THE FIRST ORGANS 51 



grown a bit, we see that the first two leaves are utterly 

 unlike the others. They are, for instance, opposite, 

 while the later and ordinary leaves are alternate. 

 Then again they are attached close to the axis, and 

 have a smooth surface and an even outline, whereas 

 the ordinary leaves have long stalks, and are of quite 

 a different shape, and may be rough to the feel and 

 have a jagged outline. Because these two first leaves 

 are so very different from the ordinary leaves of the 

 plant, they have been given a special name, cotyledon, 

 and the part of the axis which is below the coty- 

 ledons, and between them and the root proper (which 

 begins at the level of the peculiar swelling referred 

 to), is called the hypocotyl. 



Now examine seeds that have been a shorter time 

 in water, or in the moist earth. They are larger 

 than when dry, and the seed-coat is burst open at 

 the narrow end (where the micropyle and hilum 

 are). Through the opening there protrudes first a 

 smooth white pointed body. This develops after- 

 wards into the first root, and is called the radicle, 

 and you should notice that it always points down- 

 wards. In whatever position the seed may be put, 

 whether sideways or flat, or with the micropyle 

 upwards or downwards, the radicle, as soon as it 

 has emerged, turns downwards through the soil. 



Now if we split the seed right open, we shall find 

 inside only two white flat bodies, which obviously 

 are what afterwards become the green cotyledons. 

 We may take seeds which have hardly begun to 

 germinate, and still find these two flat white coty- 

 ledons, so that the cotyledons and the short bit of 



