48 GENERAL BOTANY 



has fallen off. At the other end the pod narrows into 

 a thin long point which curves in the opposite direc- 

 tion. This is the style of the ovary and is no larger 

 than it was in the flower ; at the very tip the style 

 is curved abruptly still more backwards. 



If now the pod be opened along the dorsal suture, 

 five or six seeds will be seen attached along the inside 

 of the opposite or ventral suture. Each has a short 

 stalk called the funicle, attached to the pod and to a 

 large white growth on the seed called the hilum. 



In many plants the hilum is not so large as in 

 the Lablab, but is hardly visible at all, its position 

 being then marked by the scar left by the funicle on 

 the seed when the latter falls out of the pod. 



At one end of the hilum, the end which was towards 

 the stalk of the Bean-pod, there is a small hole, which 

 can sometimes be seen more clearly after the seed 

 has been soaked in water, for if it be then wiped and 

 squeezed, water will ooze out of this hole. This is 

 called the micropyle, and occurs in every seed. The 

 position of the micropyle in relation to the funicle 

 and to the pod is the same in all the seeds of the 

 pod, and of all plants which are akin to the Bean. 



On the side opposite to the hilum the skin of the 

 seed appears to be drawn together. This is the chalaza, 

 and marks what is really the base of the seed. Between 

 the hilum and the. chalaza is a raised ridge barely 

 visible, which is called the raphe. 



Examine also the seeds of other Beans the Broad- 

 bean, Brown-bean and Gram, and make out the same 

 parts in them. On the Brown-bean at one end of the 

 hilum, furthest from the micropyle, there is a small 



