260 DECOMPOSITE ORGANS. CHAP. I" 



examined before they are quite ripe, and in the 

 latter they should be steeped for a while in some 

 coloured infusion, such as may penetrate between 

 the lobes and point out the line of division. 

 Their colour is generally white or green, but in the 

 ripe seed of leguminous plants it is yellow, and in 

 the seeds of Bideus and Zinnia it is purple. They 

 are generally without smell ; if they have any it is 

 not mild or aromatic. Their taste is for the most 

 part hot and bitter ; but in the Almond, Nut, and 

 Walnut, it is sweet and grateful. 



Not divi- But although the greater part of seeds are, like 

 twcAobes. tne P ea an d Bean, furnished with two cotyledons, 

 there is at the same time a considerable number 

 whose cotyledon consists of one lobe only, and may 

 be exemplified, according to Gaertner, in the seeds 

 of the Scitaminea, Gramma, Palmte, Orchidetz, 

 and LiliacecE, though the three last of these 

 families seem now by some botanists to be re- 

 garded as improperly placed under this division of 

 vegetables.* 



On this subject I can say nothing from my own ob- 

 servation, having never had an opportunity of watch- 

 ing the germination of the seeds in question ; but 

 from Gartner's universally aknowledged accuracy, 

 I am altogether at a loss to conceive how he could 

 have been so egregiously mistaken in a case coming 

 immediately under his own inspection ; and must 

 confess myself to be still somewhat sceptical' with 

 * Smith's Inquiry into the Structure of Seeds. Lin. Trans, ix. 



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