24 HOW A PLANT GETS OUT OF THE SEED. 



6. MAPLES. The maples are very suggestive. Our common 

 soft or silver maple drops its fruit during the month of May and 

 who has not observed the keys of this fruit in a grassy lawn, with 

 the heavy end sticking in the grass? The two fleshy seed leaves 

 are broad and short, straight except a small fold near the top. 

 They do not appear above the ground as is usual in other maples. 

 The small root pushes its way into the soil while the small stem 

 with its plumule rises above the ground where the small leaves 

 unfold. The red maple and black maple have crumpled embryos 

 with considerable development of caulicle. The black maple, 

 which is not uncommon in this state, may be obtained in quantity 

 during the month of May, showing all stages of germination. We 

 observe that the black maple does not germinate till spring. The 

 two cotyledons appear above the ground, the short stem below, 

 the plumule elongates and soon produces fully developed leaves. 



