50 



THE SEED. 



of P. Sabiniana are almost as large as a filbert. In Abies and Cedrus they 

 are broadly wedge-shaped ; in Taxodium angular ; in Sequoia disk -like and 

 compressed; in some of the Cupressineae ear-shaped, etc. In Araucaria 

 the scale, bract and seed all coalesce into an elongated wedge-like body. 

 The seeds of Taxads and Conifers differing so much in size, it follows 

 also that there is a corresponding if not a proportionate difference in 

 weight. A few instances for illustration are selected from a table 

 compiled by Mr. E. J. C. Preece.* In this table the gramme is taken 

 as the unit of weight which is equivalent to about 15 '5 English grains, 

 or in other words the English ounce is equal to 28 '3 grammes. Thus, 

 in Abies the small-seeded A. balsamea has 157 seeds to the gramme, 

 whilst A. cephalonica and A. Nordmanniana have but twenty. In Picca, 

 the common Spruce, P. excelsa has 150 seeds to the gramme, whilst the 

 small-coned P. alba has 340, and the Sitka Spruce nearly 1,000. In 

 Pinus, whilst one seed of P. Sabiniana almost weighs a gramme, and 

 only two of P. pinea and three of P. Coulteri, it takes 200 of 

 the Scots Pine to make up the same weight. It requires over 300 



of the small seeds of Wellingtonia 

 and 360 of Cryptomeria japonica 

 to weigh a gramme, a larger number 

 than Lawson's Cypress which takes 

 about 250. 



It is a very remarkable fact 

 that some of the largest of trees 

 spring from the smallest of seeds. 

 Thus, the gigantic Sequoias of 

 California, the Wellingtonia and 

 the Redwood have seeds less than 

 one-tenth of an inch in diameter, 

 and each seed contains no more 

 matter than a grain of mustard 

 seed. The seeds of the Deodar 

 Cedar are smaller than those of 

 some of our garden herbs, and 

 the seeds of the Hemlock Firs are 

 among the smallest of tree seeds. The seeds of Pinus monopJiyUa and, 

 P. koraiensis, both low trees, are half as large again as those of their 

 congener, P. Lambertiana, which towers to ten times their height, and 

 many other instances might be cited. There is, however, no necessary 

 connection between the size and weight of seeds and the dimensions of 

 the plants that spring from them. The essential physiological condition 

 consists in the albumen or food material stored up in the seed being in 

 sufficient quantity to supply the embryo plant with nutrient matter 

 during germination and until the cotyledonary leaves and rootlets of the 

 young seedling are sufficiently developed to assimilate it from the 

 atmosphere and soil. 



Various provisions are met with which serve the dispersion of the 

 seeds of Taxads and Conifers. The bright colour and sweet flavour 

 of the aril of the Yew doubtless attract birds, and the contained 

 seed is carried by them a considerable distance from the parent tree ; 

 and this probably happens with the succulent fruits of Ginkgo, 

 Cephalotaxus, Torreya and Juniper. The membraneous wing into 

 * Forestry, VII. (1883), p. 186. 



l 2 



Fig. 34. Scale of cone of Finns pinea. 1, Inner 



(ventral) face with two seeds. 2, Outer (dorsal) 



face showing the swollen apical portion called the 



((pophysis with -its central protuberance. Nat. size. 



