vii.] THE FRUIT. 89 



COLLECTIVE FRUITS (resulting from two or more 

 flowers). 



24. THE SEED. The ovule after fertilisation becomes 

 the seed, and its coat or coats ultimately form the testa, 

 which, when the seed is ripe, may be- membranous or 

 papery, fibrous, crustaceous or bony in texture; easily 

 separable from its contents or firmly adherent; unap- 

 pendaged or provided with tubercles, ridges, wing-like 

 borders or tufts of hair. 



The internal structure of the Seed we have already care- 

 fully examined in the Buttercup, Bean, and Wheat. In 

 examining plants, it will be sufficient at present to note 

 whether the seeds are solitary, definite, or indefinite in 

 the ovary if it be apocarpous, or in each cell of the ovary 

 if syncarpous. Thus the seeds are solitary in Buttercup, 

 Parsnip, Deadnettle, and Marigold; definite (few and 

 constant in number) in the Apple; and indefinite (nume- 

 rous or variable) in Primrose. Note, also, whether the 

 seeds are exalbuminous, that is, containing embryo only, 

 as in Pea, Wallflower, Apple, and Marigold ; or albu- 

 minous, containing albumen along with the embryo, as in 

 Parsnip, Buttercup, Tulip, and Wheat. 



