STAMENS AND PISTILS. 



665 



Fig. 746. Hstils of violet 



nstil ot 

 primrose. 



Flowering plants must possess stamens and pistils, which bring forth 

 seeds which contain an embryo, and the germination of seeds can be easily 

 perceived by any one who will take the 

 trouble to soak them (say " scarlet runners ") 

 in warm water, and keep them warm in 

 moist flannel. The process may then be 

 examined at leisure. 



We need hardly insist, after what we 

 have said, upon the necessity for some air and 

 light, or remind the .reader that he must not 

 keep the seeds in a close, dark place, though 

 light is not so necessary at first as air. The 

 embryo connects the " cotyledons " or halves 

 of the seed, and this develops into a tiny ] gi 

 rootlet or " radicle," and upwards into the 

 stem, the commencement of which is known in botany as a " plumule." 

 The rootlet seeks nourishment from the ground. The albumen secreted in 

 the cotyledons feeds the embryo, until (in some cases) it is 

 exhausted and they die away. In other cases they 

 grow up and obtain food for the young plant in the air. 

 Some plants have (like wheat) only one seed-leaf, 

 or cotyledon ; and these kinds are called monocoty- 

 ledons, or cndogens, in which the growth is upright. 

 The others are called dicotyledons, or exogens. 



So far now, perhaps, you may understand that 

 the outer covering of the seed is called the testa ; 

 the opening which may be perceived in the ordinary 

 bean near the dark spot is the micropyle, or little 

 gate ; that the halves of the covering are termed cotyledons, or cups, 

 and that the embryo sprouts upwards and downwards, the upper 

 part of the stem being the plumule, and the lower portion the radicle. 

 Even if the seed be put micropyle upwards into the 

 ground, or between layers of flannel, to 

 germinate, you will find that the radicle 

 will always curve downwards. 



The root then being displayed, it 

 pushes its way into the ground to seek 

 for nourishment, and when the proper 

 moisture has been admitted to the seed- 

 ling, which has been reposing in the coty- 

 ledons all the time, it sprouts up rapidly. 

 The root and its fibrous extremities have 

 been pushing and insinuating themselves 

 into and through the ground, and by small knobs or suckers known as 

 spongioles, the rootlets or fibrous parts of the root pick up sustenance for 



Fig. 748. Polyadelphous 

 stamens. 



Fig. 751. Fibrous 

 root. 



