CHAP. II. 



SEED. 



•203 



14. Of the Seed. 



171 



172 



173 174 



175 



176 



177 



182 



185 



186 



As the fruit is the ovary arrived at maturity, and is there- 

 fore subject to the same laws of structure as the latter; so is 

 the seed the ovule in its most perfect and finally organised 

 state, and constructed upon exactly the same plan as the 

 ovule. But as the fruit, nevertheless, often differs from the 

 ovary in the suppression, or addition, or modification of certain 

 portions, so is the seed occasionally altered from the precise 

 structure of the ovule, in consequence of changes of like 

 nature. 



The seed is a body enclosed in a pericarp, is clotlied with 

 its own integuments, and contains the rudiment of a future 

 plant. It is the point of development at which vegetation 

 stops, and beyond which no increase, in the same direction 

 with itself, can take place. In a young state it has already 

 been spoken of under the name of ovule; to which I also 

 refer for all that relates to the insertion of seeds. 



That side of a seed which is most nearly parallel with the 

 axis of a compound fruit, or the ventral suture or sutural 

 line of a simple fruit, is called the Juce, and the opposite side 

 the back. In a compound fruit with parietal placentae, the 

 placenta is to be considered as the axis with respect to the 

 seed ; and that part of the seed which is most nearly parallel 

 with the placenta, as the face. Where the raphe is visible, 

 the face is indicated bv that. 



