OF THE COTYLEDONS. 75 



expanding Embri/o^ resembling a little feather, has 

 been for that reason nanned by Linnreus Plumula', it 

 soon becomes a tuft of young leaves, with which the 

 young stem, if there be any, ascends. Till the leaves 

 unfold, and sometimes after, the cotyledons, Assuming 

 their green colour, perform their functions ; then the 

 latter generally wither. This may be seen in the 

 Radish, Lupine, Garden Bean, and various umbellife- 

 rous plants, in all which the expanded cotyledons are 

 remarkably different from the true leaves. Such is the 

 general course of vegetation in plants furnished with 

 two cotyledons, or dicotijkdones; but I have already 

 mentioned a very distinct tribe called monocotyledones; 

 seep. 45. These are the Grass and Corn tribe, Palms, 

 the beautiful Orchis family, and many others. In 

 these the body of the seed does not ascend out of 

 the ground, and they are rather to be considered as 

 having no cotyledon at all. See Mr. Salisbury's paper 

 in the Transactions of the Linnean Societ}^ v. 7, on 

 the germination of the Orchis tribe. We reserve more 

 particular remarks on this subject till we examine the 

 structure of seeds. 



Some plants are reckoned by Linnseus to have many 

 cotyledons, as the Fir and Cypress. But the germina- 

 tion of these differs in no respect from" that of the 

 generality of dicotyledones. Mr. Lambert, in his 

 splendid history of the genus Flu us, has illustrated 

 this peculiarity of structure in the Swiss P. Cembra ; 

 see our tab. 1, Jig. 2. In the Dombeya, or Norfolk 



