PARTS OF SEEDS: CONCLUSIONS 



II 



CONCLUSIONS 



14. The seed. A seed is a plant structure composed of the 

 embryo plant surrounded by the seed coats. The seed coats are 

 formed from the walls of the ovule. The seed is 



capable, by the growth of the embryo, of produc- 

 ing a plant similar to the parent. 



The embryo is made up of the three principal 

 parts of the plant, the root, stem and leaf, but 

 these parts are in a 

 very rudimentary form. 

 Squash, pea, bean, castor 

 bean and apple seeds 

 are examples of clearly 

 denned seeds. The 

 " shell " of the squash 

 or apple seed or the 

 membrane which can 

 be slipped off from a 

 pea or bean after being thor- 

 oughly soaked in water, is 

 made up of the seed coats. 

 The entire content of the 

 squash or almond seed is the 

 embryo. 



15. Food stored in the 

 seed. Nearly all seeds have 

 food stored in them to furnish 



nutriment for the embryo plant Fig. 21. 



from the time of germination White - pine seedling casting seed coats ' 

 until the seedling has established itself in the earth, where it can 

 obtain its food from the outside. In the squash, bean, pea, etc., 

 the food is stored up in the two first seed leaves (cotyledons) 

 which make the bulk of the embryo and are easily recognized 

 as the two fleshy halves. In other seeds, as in the castor bean, 

 the corn, wheat, etc., the food is stored around, or at one side of 



