8 



Plants and their Ways in Soiith Afi'ica 



to the micropyle ? On which side of the seed ? Compare the 

 arrangement of the narrow bean with that of the broad bean. 



Make drawings of all that you 

 see. Keep these drawings in 

 a book which you will use for 

 plants. 



A loquat seed will separate 

 into two parts, the cotyledons ; 

 but the plumule and radicle 

 cannot be so plainly seen. 



Now make out the parts in 

 '< fflW Ji ^'■^sSi^P' "^^ the seeds of a pumpkin, water- 



melon, or calabas seed. 



In all. these seeds the little 

 embryo has stored all the food 

 which the mother plant pro- 

 vided, within the two plump 

 cotyledons. But there are 

 seeds in which the food is 

 stored outside the embryo. 

 The pine seed shows this 

 nicely. Remove the thick, 

 hard seed-coat and cut the 

 contents across. A ring of 

 white food will be seen, the 

 endosperm, surrounding a 

 central part. If another is cut 

 lengthwise, this central part will 

 be recognized as the little pine 

 tree, with the radicle pointing 

 to the smaller end of the seed. 

 Instead of two cotyledons, 

 several will be found. The 

 plumule is too small to be seen. 

 When drawing a pine seed, 

 e endosperm. A thin papery bag 

 two. It once contained food, 

 the seed-coat. 



Fig. 9. — Seeds of Finns Pinea in dif- 

 ferent stages of germination. /. Ripe 

 seed in longitudinal section : s, testa ; 

 e, endosperm ; iv, radicle of embryo ; 

 c, the cotyledons ; y, ihe micropj-le 

 end of seed, with the rootlet directed 

 towards it. //. Germination commenc- 

 ing : .<4, Testa ; s, ruptured, and rootlet ; 

 Tw, protruding ; r, red membrane in- 

 side testa ; x, ruptured embryo sac : 

 B, portion of testa removed ; e, endo- 

 sperm : C, longitudinal section ; c, 

 cotyledons: D, transverse section. 

 ///. Germination complete, the cotyle- 

 dons, c, unfolding, and the hypocotyle- 

 donary part of stem, he, elongated, 

 the main root, «/, developing lateral 

 rootlets, iv'. (From Edmonds and 

 Marloth's ''Elementary Botany for 

 South .\frica.") 



draw the seed-coat around th 

 will be found between the 

 Draw it by a light line inside 



