INTRODUCTORY LESSONS. 



vu 



5. Albuminous Seeds. Remove the sliell-like coat of a castor bean, 

 and carefully split it flatTuise. What at first seems to be a large plumule 

 l^roves to be free from the rest of the kernel, and with care you may be 



tura (BrugmanFia\ showin 



12 

 the bent embryo in the scanty albumen; 



9 . Seed of WiUow or Ui^. 

 ger Pine cut so as to sh(^\v 

 the straight embryo in the 

 center of the oily albumen. 

 a and ft, embryo taken out, 

 thecntyjedons \b) separated. 

 10. SeedoftheCastor-beaii. 

 a, the broad thin embr\o 

 nearly dividing the albu- 

 men; 6, the embryo removed 

 and the leaf-like cotyledons 

 separated. 11. Seed of Da- 

 ft, the embryo taken out and 



the slender cotyledons separated. 12. A grain of coffee, a, the straight embryo. 



able to get it out whole (Fig. 10.) It is a straight embryo with beautifully 

 veined, leaf-like cotyledons, embedded in a white, oily substance, which 

 makes up the mass of the kernel. This substance is called Albumen, a 

 name which aj^plies to anything inclosed with the embryo by the seed 

 coats. Peas, beans, acorns, nuts, and most large seeds have no albumen. 

 Carefull}' cut thin slices from a well soaked coifee grain until its embryo 

 appears as represented in Fig. 12. The horny, folded albumen makes 

 up most of the seed. A similar, but smaller embryo, may be found in 

 the brain-shaped, fleshy albumen of the ivy seed. The embrj'o of the 

 Tree-Datura, or Stramoniam, is shown in Fig. 11. 

 It has slender cotyledons, folded down against a 

 thick .radicle, the whole embedded in tough, fleshy 

 albumen. Take the embryo of a Morning-Glory 

 seed and pick the bits of transparent, jelly-like 

 albumen out of the pockets in the crumpled coty- 

 ledons. An attempt to flatten out the cotyledons 

 v.'ill probably result in something like h, Fig, 13, 

 which may lead j'ou to suppose that the coty- 

 ledons are separately crumpled, which is not the 

 case. They stick closely together by their inner 

 faces, as do the cotyledons of other seeds you have 

 examined, and they are crumpled as one; but, being 

 notched at the end, they readil}' split down the 

 center. Buckwheat seeds will <Tfive you some trouble. 



13. Morning - Gloiy 

 just appearing above the 

 ground with the seed coat 

 sticking to the cotyle- 

 dons, a, the swollen 

 seed; ft, embryo, with 

 the crumpled cotyle- 

 dons si'lit down the 

 middle in the attempt 

 to flatten them. 



Indeed, it will 



