THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



IN THE BRITISH ISLES 



VOLUME III 

 INTRODUCTION— (Conitnued) 



10. Germination and Growth. 



T T AVING described in Vol. II the relationship 

 ^ ^ of the transporting agencies in the plant, and 

 the factors in the environment, to the processes of 

 nutrition, and to the transported materials, in their 

 general bearing upon the essential factors in the 

 plant's activities, nutrition and growth, we proceed 

 to discuss briefly the main sequence of events that 

 take place during the life-cycle of the plant from 

 germination to fruit- or seed-formation. 



The seeds of a plant may be protected by a soft or 

 a hard seed-coat or testa and may lie either enclosed 

 in the fallen fruit, or they may, before falling from 

 the parent plant, be expelled from the fruit, and be 

 scattered as seeds. In either case the young embryo 

 in the seed is efficiently protected against the 

 exigencies of a hard winter, as in this country, and 

 during the quiescent period, after it has fallen from the 



VOL. III. I 



