ON THE SEED. 41 



Emily. True ; we have hitherto considered only the 

 formation of the seed, and its growth in the flower and 

 the fruit. 



Mrs. B. Let us now, then, suppose it to have attain- 

 ed a state of maturity, and ready, when placed under fa- 

 vorable circumstances, to germinate. For this purpose 

 the seed must first be detached from the parent plant. 



Caroline. That is what we every day witness. The 

 fruit, when ripe, drops from the tree ; or the pericarps, 

 when dry, burst open, and shed their seeds. 



Mrs. B. Not always : some pericarps, we have ob- 

 served, have no natural mode of opening ; such is the nut, 

 the amaranth, the pericarps of compound flowers, and those 

 of gramineous plants. In the latter, the pericarp adheres 

 so strongly to the seed, that they are confounded togeth- 

 er, and cannot be distinguished. The seed is, in this 

 case, inaccurately said to be naked ; when ripe, it falls 

 from the stem, inclosed in the pericarp, and, thus cover- 

 ed, sows itself in the ground. 



Caroline. Then I think that seeds of this description 

 should be called clothed, rather than naked. 



Mrs. B. They are so, in fact ; but as the pericarp is 

 of a hard dry nature, and adheres closely to the seed, it 

 is commonly considered as forming a part of it. Thus 

 the seeds of corn and grasses are sown enclosed in their 

 pericarps. 



Emily. Then the pericarp, I suppose, rots in the 

 ground, and the seed is left at liberty to germinate? 



Mrs. B. The pericarp ultimately rots, but not until the 

 germ has made its escape through a small aperture, which 

 nature has provided for that purpose. That of a grain of 

 corn is too minute to be seen with the naked eye ; but 

 you may probably have observed three openings of this 

 description in the cocoa-nut, a seed of sufficient size for 

 them to have attracted your attention. Through one of 

 these the embryo escapes from its prison. 



Emily. But the stem and the root cannot both shoot 

 from the same opening, or they would both grow in the 

 same direction ? 



1315. What pericarps have no natural openingl 1316. What is 

 said of the seed and its pericarp in gramineous plants'? 1317. How are 

 the seeds of corn and grasses sownl 1318. How does the germ escape 

 if the pericarp remains'? 1319. What is said of a grain of corn and 

 the cocoa-nut in explanation'? 



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