LK8S0N 3.] OKOWTH OK TIIK IM.ANT FROM THE SEfcO. 



15 



th(; alhntnrn, or wliilo of (lie o^'ir, wliich cnclosfs ihe yolk, and 

 therefore gave it the same name, — the albumen of the seed, — a 

 nnme which it still retains. Food of this sort for the plant is also 

 f(K)d for animals, or for man ; and il is 

 this albnmen, the floury part of liie seed, 

 whieh forms the principal bulk of such 

 important grains as those of Indian Corn 

 (V\^. 38-40), Wheat, Rice, Buck- 

 wheat, and of the seed of Four-o'clock, 

 (Fig. 3(3, 37), and the like. In all 

 these last-named cases, it may be ob- 

 served that the embryo is not enclosed 

 in the albumen, but placed on one side 

 of it, yet in close contact with it, so 

 that the embryo may absorb readily 

 from it the nourishment it requires 

 when it begins to grow. Sometimes 

 the embryo is coiled around the outside, in the form of a ring, as 

 in the Purslane and the Four-o'clock (Fig. 36, 37) ; sometimes it is 

 ooile-d within the albumen, as in the Potato (Fig. 34, 35) ; some- 

 times it is straight in the centre of the albumen, occupying nearly its 

 30 w J4 36 whole length, as in 



the Barberry (Fig. 

 32, 33), or much 

 smaller and near one 

 end, as in the Iris 

 (Fig. 43) ; or some- 

 times so miinite, in 

 the midst of the al- 

 bumen, that it needs 

 a magnifying-glass to 

 find it, as in the But- 



Flf;. 00. nprinin.itiniiiif Dip Moriiinc Clorv more ndv.Tiirpil : tlip iipinrpnrt only , slion-ing 

 the Ipaly cotyledons, iho secuiid joiiil of .'-tPin with its leaf, and the third with its leaf jiiht 

 developing. 



FIU. 30. Sertion of a s^pd of a Pnnny, Khowin*; n very small •nihryo in llie alhtimen, 

 near one end. .tl. T\\\» etnhryo dclarlipil, nnil nH>r<> nin^nified. 



FKi. 22. Section of a sped ot Barliorry. stviwiiii; the straight enihry o in the iniddte of 

 the alhiinipn. 33. Its embryo delarhrd. 



FIU. 31 Sprtion u>' a Putato-sccd, bliowmi; (lie riiibr)(i roiled in the alhiiiiipii. 35. Itj 

 embryo detarlied. 



Fir:. 3r). i^erlmn nf the s-ppd of Foiir-oVlork, Khuwing the piiiliryo roiled ruiiiul tlM 

 outside of the albumen. :r7 Um ctubtyu delaclied 



