50 GENERAL BOTANY 



has a groove down one side while in the opposite 

 is the hilum. The micropyle is next to it, but hard 

 to see. The Maize-grain as also all cereal grains, 

 Wheat, Paddy, Cholam has no micropyle, for the 

 seed is in reality enclosed in its own pod, but too 

 tightly to be separated from it, and the micropyle is 

 hidden inside. 



After about a week, sow another lot of seeds. 

 When the first lot has begun to germinate and show 

 above the soil, we may examine them in turn. 



2. We will first take the melon-seedlings. The first 

 sign of the young plant is an arched axis which pushes 

 up the soil, and in a day or two comes clear out above 

 it. Pull one of them up. 



One arm of the arch is short and is connected with 

 something inside the seed; the other is much larger 

 and has branches going obliquely downwards through 

 the soil these are the roots. 



Now notice that the seed-coat gapes open, and that 

 the lower side is held down by a swelling on the other 

 arm of the arch, just above the topmost root-branch. 

 This swelling is quite peculiar, and is found only in 

 plants of the Melon and Cucumber kind. 



In the course of the next day or two the arched 

 axis bends backwards, and literally pulls out of the 

 seed-coat two thick flat oval bodies which very soon 

 turn green. The axis then straightens and becomes 

 upright, in a line with the root, and the two flat green 

 things stand out sideways. Their resemblance to leaves 

 is obvious, they must be leaves. Between them is 

 a tiny bud, and in a few days this grows out as a 

 shoot axis, and bears leaves. When the plant has 



