SEED; 127 



would vanish, leaving a still more cheerless vacancy ; the pe- 

 rennial would, year after year, disappear, until (if we could 

 suppose our own lives to be prolonged in such a strange state of 

 nature,) we should behold the earth one vast scene of vegeta- 

 ble ruin ; occasionally here and there a venerable oak or an an- 

 cient pine would stand in solitary grandeur, the mournful rem- 

 nants of a once beautiful and fertile vegetable kingdom. 



But such a sad spectacle the earth will never present, for we 

 have the promise of God himself, that " while the earth remain- 

 eth, seed time and harvest shall not cease." 



We have* seen, in the progress of our enquiries, that while the 

 present plant is diffusing around it beauty and fragrance, ad- 

 ministering to the necessities and luxuries of man, the watchful 

 care of that Being who never slumbers nor sleeps, is by a slow, 

 but certain progress, perfecting that part which is destined to 

 continue the species, and which is, " the sole end and aim of all 

 the organs of fructification."* 



The seed is that internal part of the fruit which envelopes 

 the complete rudiment of a new plant, similar to that from 

 which it received its existence. Seeds are various in their 

 form ; the mustard is globular ; some species of beans are ob- 

 long ; the cocoa nut is ovoid ; the buck wheat is angular, &c. 

 The seed consists of three principal parts, viz. the eye, husk 

 and kernel. 



1st. The eye or hilum is the scar formed by the separation of 

 the membrane or thread which connected the seed with the peri- 

 carp, and conveyed to the former the necessary nourishment. 

 This connecting membrane is usually very short ; but in the 

 magnolia and some other plants it is several inches in length. 

 When the seed is fully ripe, the connexion between it and the pe- 

 ricarp, ceases by the withering and separation of the connecting 

 membrane, leaving upon the outer surface of the seed, the mark 

 of its insertion. This eye or scar is very conspicuous in 

 Fig. 84. the bean, which also exhibits the pore 



through which the nourishment was con- 

 veyed to the internal parts of the seed. 

 That part of the seed which contains the 

 eye is called the base ; the part opposite, 

 is called the apex. 



Fig. 84 represents the garden bean ; 

 it is an oblong, tunicated seed ; between 

 its two thick cotyledons ; at 0, may be 

 a seen the hilum. 



* Linnaeus. 



Seed contains the rudiment of a new plant Forms of seeds Parts of the 

 seed Eye. 



