CHAPTER VII 



GERMINATION THE SEED WAKES UP 



Vocabulary 



Distinct, of separate kinds. 

 Tolerate, to bear or endure. 

 External, pertaining to the outside. 

 Dispersal, the act of scattering, as pf seeds. 

 Emergence, coming out of anything. 

 Penetration, forcing a way through 



The seed is not a thing totally distinct from the parent plant, 

 though it is separated from it. It contains the same protoplasm 

 as the parent plant, with this distinction; its protoplasm is in a 

 condition of rest. The seed is not dead, it is asleep and waits 

 only for favorable conditions to wake into the activity of growth. 



Function of the Seed. This resting stage is of two-fold value 

 it condenses the essential nature of the whole plant within small 

 compass, capable of easy and wide dispersal, and, most important 

 of all, protects the vitality of the embryo so that the seed can 

 withstand periods of drought, cold, heat, or other conditions 

 which would be fatal to the parent plant. 



Both dispersal and preservation are steps toward the chief 

 function of the seed, which is to reproduce the plant that is at 

 rest within it. This resumption of active life is called germination. 



Necessary Conditions for Germination. For the germination of 

 most seeds at least three conditions are required, in amounts 

 varying between wide but definite limits; these are moisture, 

 heat, and air. 



There are a few plants whose seed will develop under water 

 while others retain enough of the scant dews of the desert nights 

 to waken the seed into growth. Usually, however, a moderate 



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