REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS OF PLANTS. 305 
growing plant, shriveling and shrinking greatly in bulk, 
and finally falling away and passing into decay. 
§ 3. 
VITALITY OF SEEDS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE 
PLANTS THEY PRODUCE. 
Duration of Vitality.—In the mature seed when kept 
lrom excess of moisture, the embryo lies dormant. The 
duration of its vitality is very various. The seeds of the 
willow, it is asserted, will not grow after having once be- 
come dry, but must be sown when fresh; they lose their 
germinative power in two weeks after ripening. 
With regard to the duration of the vitality of the 
seeds of agricultural plants there is no little conflict of 
opinion among those who have experimented with them. 
The leguminous seeds appear to remain capable of 
germination during long periods. Girardin sproute: beans 
that were over a century old. It is said that Grimstone 
with great pains raised peas from a seed taken from a 
sealed vase found in the sarcophagus of an Egyptian mum- 
my, presented to the British Museum by Sir G. Wilkinson, 
and estimated to be near 3,000 years old. 
The seeds of wheat usually lose their power of growth 
after having been kept 3-7 years. Count Sternberg and 
others are said to have succeeded in germinating wheat 
taken from an Egyptian mummy, but only after soaking 
it in o#/, Sternberg relates that this ancient wheat mani- 
fested no vitality when placed in the soil under ordinary 
circumstances, nor even when submitted to the action of 
acids or other substances which gardeners sometimes em- 
ploy to promote sprouting. Vilmorin, from his own trials, 
doubts altogether the authenticity of the “ mummy wheat.” 
Dietrich, (Hof Jahr., 1862-3, p. 77,) experimented 
with seeds of wheat, rye, and a species of Bromus, which 
