VI. SEEDS AND SEEDLINGS 



Problem X. A study of seeds in their relation to the new 

 plant. (Laboratory Manual , Prob. JT.) 



(a) The relation of the young plant to its food supply. 

 (#) How the young plant makes use of its food supply. 



Relation of Flower to Fruit. We have already found in our 

 study of the fruit that the bean pod is a direct outgrowth from the 

 flower. It is, in fact, the ovary of the flower, with the parts imme- 

 diately surrounding it, which has grown larger to make a fruit. 



Use of Fruit. The fruit holds and protects the seeds until the 

 time comes when they are able to germinate and produce new 

 plants like the original plant 

 from which they grew. Then, 

 as we have seen, it helps to 

 scatter them far and wide. 



The Bean Seed. We have 

 already been able to identify in 

 the pod of the bean the style, 

 stigma, and ovary of the flower. 

 The opened pod discloses the 

 seeds lying along one edge of 

 the pod, each attached by a 

 little stalk to the inner wall of 

 the ovary. If we pull a single 

 bean from its attachment, we 

 find that the stalk leaves a scar 

 on the coat of the bean ; this 

 scar is called the hilum. The 

 tiny hole near the hilum is 

 called the micropyle. Turn 

 back to the Figure (p. 37) showing the ovule in the ovary. Find 

 there the little hole through which the pollen tube reached the 

 embryo sac. This hole is called the micropyle, and is identical 

 HUNT. ES. BIO. 5 65 



Three views of a kidney bean, the lower 

 one having one cotyledon removed to 

 show the hypocotyl and plumule. 



