LESSON 2.] GROWTH OP THE PLANT FROM THE SEED. 



story, are the living witnesses and illustrations of one and the 

 same plan of Creative Wisdom in the vegetable world. So that the 

 study of any one plant, traced from the seed it springs from round 

 to the seeds it produces, would illustrate the whole subject of vege- 

 table life and growth. It matters little, therefore, what particular 

 plant we begin with. 



14. The Germinating Plantlet, Take for example a seedling Maple. 

 Sugar Maples may be found in abundance in many places, starting 

 from the seed (i. e. germinating) in early spring, and Red Maples 

 at the beginning of summer, shortly after the fruits of the season 

 have ripened and fallen to the ground. A pair of narrow green 

 leaves raised on a tiny stem make up the whole plant at its first 

 appearance (Fig. 4). Soon a root appears at the lower end of this 

 stemlet ; then a little bud at its upper end, between the pair of 

 leaves, which soon grows into a second joint or 



stem bearing another pair of leaves, resembling 

 the ordinary leaves of the Red Maple, which 

 the first did not. Figures 5 and 6 represent 

 these steps in the growth. 



15. Was this plantlet formed in the seed at 

 the time of germination, something as the chick 

 is formed in the egg during the process of incu- 

 bation ? Or did it exist before in the seed, 

 ready formed ? To decide this question, we 

 have only to inspect a sound seed, which in this 

 instance requires no microscope, nor any other 

 instrument than a sharp knife, by which the 

 coats of the seed (previously soaked in water, if 

 dry) may be laid open. We find within the 

 seed, in this case, the little plantlet ready formed, 

 and nothing else (Fig. 2) ; namely, a pair 

 of leaves like those of the earliest seedling 

 (Fig. 4), only smaller, borne on a stemlet just 

 like that of the seedling, only much shorter, 

 and all snugly coiled up within the protecting 

 seed-coat. The plant then exists beforehand 



in the seed, in miniature. It was not formed, but only devel- 



FIG. 1. A winged fruit of Red Maple, witli the seed-bearing portion cut open, to show the 

 seed. 2. This seed cut open to show the embryo plantlet within, enlarged. 3. The embryo 

 taken out whole, and partly unfolded. 4. The same after it has begun to grow ; of the 

 Qatural size. 



1* 



