SEED. * 89 



fruit of the MORUS rubra (red mulberry) ; it is oblong ; 

 each little drupe surrounded by a succulent pericarp ; 

 the nut i3 one-seeded ; b represents a detached peri- 

 anth, containing a drupeole ; c, drupeole ; d, a nut ; e, 

 the same cut transversely ; /, the embryo. 



" I know nothing," says Mirbel, " more deserving our 

 attention thim the study of these natural productions 

 (fruits), so simple and yet so varied. When we have 

 once seized the first hnks of a beautiful chain of facts, 

 we may go on from one discovery to another, astonished that we have so long been 

 ignorant of the admu'able industry of nature."* 



LECTUEE XY. 



THE SEED. SYNOPSIS OF THE EXTEKNAX. OEGAJSTS OF PLANTS. 



98. The seed may be considered as that link in the chain of vegetable existence 

 which connects the old and new plant ; were this destroyed, were nature to fail in 

 her operation of perfecting the seed, what a change would tlie earth soon exliibit ! 

 One year would sweep away the whole tribe of annual plants ; beautiful flowers, 

 medicinal herbs, and our most important grains for the sustenance of man and 

 beast, would vanish forever. Another year would take from us many of our most 

 useful garden vegetables, and greatly reduce the number of our ornamental plants. 

 Year after year the perennials would vanish, until the- earth would present but one 

 vast scene of vegetable ruin. The ancient pines and venerable oaks, instead of the 

 smiling aspect of ever-renovating nature which they now witness, would, for a time, 

 stand alone in solitary grandeur, the mournful remains of a once beautiful and fer- 

 tile world ! And why are we never filled with alarm, lest the provisions of nature 

 should fail? It is because we know that a Being, unchangeable in purpose, and 

 omnipotent in means, directs the course of physical events, and He has promised, 

 that while the earth remameth, " seed-time and harvest shall not cease." 



We have seen, in the progress of our inquiries, that while tlie present plant is 

 diffusing around it beauty and fragrance, and 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 desthied to continue 

 the species, and which " is the sole end and aim of all the organs of fructification."! 



99.^ The seed is the ovule^ or vegetahle egg^ in a mature state; 

 it differs from a fall-grown ovule by containing within its in- 

 tegument an embryo, or organized body, the complete rudiment 

 of a new plant, similar to that from which it received its ex- 

 istence. The ovary, or the case which contains the ovules, is 

 formed from the folded lamina of the leaf, the contracted apex 

 of which forms the style, and an expansion of the same the 

 stigma of the pistil. The place?ita is the part of the ovary to 

 which the ovule is attached ; the connecting stalk is the fu- 

 nicle ; the point of attachment to the nucleus of the ovule is 

 the chalaza; through the lattei* organs nourishment is con- 

 veyed fi'om the placenta to the ovule. 



* Elemcns de Physiologic Vegitale, page 334, vol. I. t Linnteus. 



98. Remarks respecting tlie seed.— 99. Seed, how differing from the ovule?- Ovary, how formed 1 

 —Placonta—Funicle— Chalaza. 



