SECT. I. THE SEED. 267 



from which I should have, perhaps, inferred that 

 they are the same in all Grasses whatever. But as 

 Gaertner seems to deny this position I shall not 

 insist upon it at present. It is said to be superior 

 if situated near the summit of the seed, as in the 

 Umbelliferce ; and inferior if situated near the base 

 of the seed, as in Compound Flowers. But it is 

 always itself regarded as the base of the plantlet, 

 commencing at the point in which the plantlet and 

 cotyledon unite. 



The Plumelet, so denominated from its resem-The 

 blance in some examples to a small feather, issues 

 immediately from the radicle, and is the summit of 

 the infant plant. It is not discoverable in what are 

 called monocotyledonous seeds, except, as it is said, 

 in a few of the Grasses ; and even in seeds called 

 dicotyledonous it is not always easily detected. But 

 it may be very easily detected in the Garden Bean, 

 by means of gently opening up the lobes of the 

 cotyledon, between which it lays enclosed in the 

 form of two small leaflets pressed close together, 

 and intersected with a number of fine nerves or 

 veins. 



Gaertner has distinguished plumelets into two dif- 

 ferent sorts, the simple and the compound, although 

 it seems to be a division of no great utility. The 

 plumelet is simple if the leaflets are sessile and in 

 opposite pairs, as in the Laurel ; and compound, if 

 if they are supported upon a common petiole, as in 

 the Walnut. In the former case the leaflets are 



