6 BOTANY OF THE LIVING PLANT 



a redistribution of organic material. This is an irreversible process. 

 The seed which has once germinated cannot be restored to its original 

 state again. It is the same with all other changes in life : the prior 

 condition can never be exactly resumed after vital changes have occurred. 



FIG. 2. 



Common bean (Vicia. Fata), i. ii., seed covered by seed-coat. Hi., germ, with 

 seed-coat, and the nearer cotyledon removed, iv. v., successive stages of germina- 

 tion slightly reduced. 



The Bean-Seed, as shed by splitting of the Bean pod, appears as 

 a roughly discoid body (Fig. 2). It consists of an embryo or germ, 

 protected by an external Seed-Coat. On its edge, close to a slight 

 involution of the margin, is an elongated scar, the hilum, marking 

 the point of attachment to the parent plant. If the tough brown 

 Seed-Coat be dissected off, the Germ or Embryo will be disclosed, 





