SEED. 75 



kind, as well as the shape, size, and quality of the fruit, are 

 exceedingly various. Some berries so nearly resemble the 

 apple kind, that it is difficult to draw the line of distinction 

 between them. 



Strobulus, Fig. 143, a Cone. The cone may 

 be considered an indurated, or hardened amen- 

 tum, which being persistent, finally becomes the 

 capsule, or seed vessel, as in the Pine, Cypress, 

 and Fir. The seeds of these tribes, after being 

 perfected, are closely sheltered by the scales 

 which lie over each other, like the shingles of a 

 house. In the catkins of the Birch and Alder, there is a 

 kind of capsule, in addition to that contained in the cones of 

 the Pine, and in the Willow and Poplar there is a bivalve 

 capsule, suspended by a stem, quite distinct from the scales. 



SEED. 



The seed consists of integuments, (coverings,) albumen, and 

 embryo, and is the result of the reciprocal action of the sta- 

 mina and pistils. 



The Integuments, are the coverings immediately external 

 to the embryo, or germen, being that part of the seed which 

 contains the rudiments of the future plant. When a Bean 

 or Pea is exposed to heat and moisture, or when it is planted 

 in the ground, the embryo swells, and the integuments burst. 

 In these seeds it is called the skin ; in Indian Corn it is 

 called the hull. This appears like a continuous, or single 

 substance, but it really consists of three parts, or layers, into 

 which it may be divided, by careful treatment. In some 

 seeds, the outer integument is covered with down or hair. 



The Albumen, or white, is the farinaceous, fleshy, or horny 

 substance, which composes the chief bulk of some seeds, as 

 Wheat, Corn, and the Grasses. This substance furnishes 

 wholesome nourishment, even when other parts of the plant 

 are poisonous. It is destined to nourish the young plant 

 when it first begins to spring from the parent seed, and be- 

 fore it sends its roots into the earth, and therefore does not 

 rise out of the ground. Care must be taken not to confound 



Wbjkl is the str^bulus or cone ? How are the seeds protected in the 

 cone ? What are the parts belonging to the seed ? What are the integ- 

 uments of the seed 1 Is the skin of a bean composed of one, or several 

 r %te 1 What is ^rie albumen of the seed ? 



