Seeds and their Germination 1 1 



will find it to be a hollow, pointed body l containing another leaf 

 rolled up within it. This pointed roll easily pushes up through 

 the soil. After it is safely up, watch the outer leaf split open 

 and the next leaf unroll. 



The calabash seed has by this time backed out of bed. 

 Here the stem grows faster than the leaves. It makes a loop 

 above ground, and as it gradually lengthens it pulls out the 

 leaves. A little thought will show that this is the better way 

 for the calabash or pumpkin, as the leaves are not rolled, and 

 would have hard work to push up through the soil. 



FlG. 14. Zea mays FIG. 15. The calabash backs out of bed. 



(Indian corn). 



Now pull up some of the pumpkin seeds to see what has 

 been happening below. The point at the lower end of the 

 cotyledons has grown out to form a small root. The seed-coat 

 has split open, and there is a little peg where the root is coming 

 out. Plants a day or two older will show that the arching 

 stem is splitting the seed-coat, and that the peg is holding the 

 lower edge firmly in the soil. How did the peg come to be 

 just there? What if the seed had been planted with the other 

 side down? 



Let us find out by planting more, taking pains this time to 

 plant them flat. The pointed end, toward which the radicle 

 always points, is a little one-sided. The point is not quite 

 in the centre, and the micropyle is beside it. We can place 

 the seeds in one row with the point at the right, and those in 



1 This pointed sheath is regarded as part of the cotyledon. 



