Lily-kin and Rose-kin 1 19 



In all these seeds the store of nourishment is 

 packed around the little plant, close to it, but dis- 

 tinct from it. 



Scientific botanists call such seeds as this " al- 

 buminous," and they are produced by the majority 

 of the lily's kin. 



The seeds of most dicotyledons, on the con- 

 trary, contain little or nothing, except the baby- 

 plant, and are called " exalbuminous." 



But we must not infer from this term that the 

 kin of the rose send their offspring out portion- 

 less into the cold world. Food for the seedling 

 during its feeble infancy is generally present, and 

 often abundant. Peas, beans, and acorns are fat 

 and firm with starches for the young plant. Rape, 

 flaxseed, and castor-oil beans are rich in vegetable 

 oil, and nearly all seeds contain nitrogenous nour- 

 ishment in the form of aleurone. 



But this nourishment is stored, not around the 

 baby- plant, but within the tissues of the first 

 leaves. And these leaves, in the kin of the rose, 

 are always two in number. Their substance has 

 formed part of the seed, and therefore they are 

 called seed-leaves or "cotyledons," and all the 

 plants which have two of them are distinguished as 

 dicotyledons (two-seed leaves). When we take the 



