THE SEED AND ITS FERTILIZATION 29 



of it. That part is called the embryo. When germination 

 takes place the embryo pushes its way out of the seed; the 

 young rootlet, called at this stage the radicle, turning down, 

 and the young stem pushing its way upwards towards light and 

 air. Just as the embryo of a chicken has a store of food upon 

 which to feed and develop before it leaves the egg-shell, so the 

 embryo of the young Hevea plant has a sufficient store of food 

 inside the seed to supply its needs until the rootlet has attained 

 a proper hold of the soil. On the young stem which pushes 

 its way upward through the soil to light and air are two small 

 leaves, formed in the seed and helping the young plant 

 through its early stages, which later on shrivel up and die. It 

 will be seen, therefore, that just as the acorn holds in miniature 

 the future oak tree, so in the seed of the Hevea are to be found 

 in the embryo the root, the stem, and the first leaves of the 

 future tree. 



The seed of the Hevea usually germinates in from eight to 

 ten days. Seeds which take longer to germinate show a weak 

 vitality and usually produce sickly plants. Trees labour 

 under great difficulties in bringing up their families. These 

 difficulties arise from the fact that trees like the great majority 

 of plants have not the powers of locomotion, and therefore 

 must remain securely anchored to the spot where they originally 

 took root. Under such circumstances their seeds, if simply 

 dropped down under the heavy shade of the foliage of the 

 trees, would perish. The tree has, therefore, to do the best it 

 can to give its children the prospect of a fair start in life in a 

 wider world. 



In the case of the Hevea, as all rubber-planters are aware, 

 this start in life is secured in a very extraordinary manner. 

 The pods of the Hevea contain three seeds, and the Hevea 

 has so cleverly contrived things that these pods explode with 

 great violence. This explosion scatters the seeds to a distance 

 of twenty yards or more, and therefore well outside the radius 

 of the shadow of death cast by the foliage of the parent tree. 

 This is one of the most astounding examples of the ingenious 

 devices conceived and carried out by plants. Before mankind 

 had arrived at the use of slings and stones, or bows and arrows, 

 the Hevea tree had devised and developed an able and efficient 

 scheme of projectiles all its own. 



