6 BOTANY OF THE LIVING PLANT 



The seed which has once germinated cannot be restored to its original 

 state again. It is the same with all other changes in life : the prior 

 condition can never be exactly resumed after vital changes have occurred. 



Fig 2. 



Common bean (Vicia Faba). i. ii., seed covered by seed-coat, iii., germ, with 

 seed-coat and the nearer cotyledon removed, iv. v., successive stages of germina- 

 tion slightly reduced. 



The Bean-Seed, as shed by splitting of the Bean pod, appears as 

 a roughly discoid body (Fig. 2). It consists of an embryo or germ, 

 protected by an external Seed-Coat. On its edge, close to a slight 

 involution of the margin, is an elongated scar, the hilum, marking 

 the point of attachment to the parent plant. If the tough brown 

 Seed-Coat be dissected off, the Germ or Embryo will be disclosed, 

 filling the whole space within. It consists of two large flattened 

 Seed-Leaves, or Cotyledons, which are attached at the base, right 



