12 Elementary Work in Botany. 



Taste of it. Crush a bit of it on paper. What substance 

 does it contain which you did not find in a bean embryo ? 



Examine a grain of buckwheat (it should be sprouting). 

 Where does the sprout come out? Find the remains of 

 some of the flower leaves at the other end. Take the seed 

 out of the three-cornered pod. Remove the thin seed coat 

 (why thin?), and very carefully separate the embryo from a 

 white substance which is packed in the seed coat with it. 

 Anything found in the seed coat with the embryo is called 

 albumen or endosperm. Taste the endosperm. Feel it with 

 the tongue and fingers. What common substance do you 

 think it is? How much endosperm in buckwheat? Partly 

 straighten the cotyledons and draw the embryo. Put the 

 embryo by for examination after it has wilted. Look at the 

 seeds in the jar, and note any changes in their appearance.* 



EXERCISE 6. 



Look at the seeds in the jar. What have all the cauli- 

 clesdone? In addition to this, what has the caulicle done 



* If you are doing this work any time between the first of April and the mid- 

 dle of September you should plant five or six of each kind of seed (the dry ones) 

 out of doors in good, finely pulverized soil. These should make a row twelve or 

 fifteen feet long, in which the seeds are about three inches apart. Cover the seeds 

 with about an inch of fine soil. Separate with sticks the different kinds, and in 

 some way label them. 



If you are studying in the cool months (between September and April), plant 

 in a window garden of boxes or pots at least one of each kind of seed. Do not 

 dig them out before they have been up a week or more. Keep the garden well 

 watered. 



Pupils should observe how embryos break through the earth which covers 

 the seeds, noting the shape of the upper end of the stem, and whether it is the 

 plumule stem (epicotyl) or caulicle (the hypocotyl part). [See Ex. 10, p. 17.] 



