lo Plants and their Ways in South Africa 



there is another food storing region (perisperm). It can be 

 seen plainly in young seeds, and its position will remind you of 

 the thin layer in the pine seed.^ 



Examine a date and compare the seed with that of 

 Hcemanthus. 



" Water Uintjes " {Aponogeton) has one large green coty- 

 ledon, a thin plumule, and a very small radicle. 

 Its food is all stored in the cotyledon. 



Plants which have two cotyledons are called 

 Dicotyledons, those with only one are Mono- 

 cotyledons, It is an important distinction. 

 Most monocotyledons have endosperm. " Water 

 Uintjes " [Aponogeton) is an exception. The 

 plants in each group have other characters in 

 common which we shall find out later. 



In Hcemanthus and date the embryos are so 

 very small that the food supply seems unneces- 

 3.__Seed sarily generous ; but it takes a long while for the 

 date to get a firm footing in the soil, and the 

 " April Fool " is always liable to be overtaken by 

 drought. Nature provides for her children gener- 

 ously, and we all know, when it comes to a ques- 

 tion of food, it is better to have too much than 



Fig, 

 of "Water 

 Uintjes" {Ap- 

 onogeton). i, 

 large fleshy 

 cotyledon ; 2, 

 plumule; 3, 

 small radicle. 



not enough. 



By this time we have' examined enough seeds to find 

 evidence of provision for the future of the little plants, and as 

 we follow their histories we shall find other conditions admir- 

 ably fitting them for their struggle in life. 



How Seedlings Behave when they Wake Up. 



Zea Mays comes up Head Foremost. — You may mis- 

 take the little pointed object for a stem, but in a few days you 



1 Perisperm is usually consumed as the seed develops. Strelitzia 

 and M esembrianthemtim may be mentioned as seeds in which it persists 

 in the ripened seeds. In the pine, only a small part of the thin layer inside 

 the seed-coat is perisperm, the remainder is the inner part of the testa 

 which splits away in the ripe seed. 



