SEED-COLORATION 371 



allowed to colour in the detached state. However this may- 

 be, the point I wish to lay stress upon is that seeds are 

 coloured in the closed fruits. Though that condition may not 

 be absolutely essential for the development of colour, it is the 

 protection which nature supplies to the plant-embryo, and it 

 is under such circumstances that seeds acquire their hues. 



It is to this general condition that attention will be first 

 directed ; and afterwards inquiry will be made as to whether 

 the colouring takes place in the green or in the ripe fruit, or in 

 the drying fruit, or during all stages. Then other matters will 

 be dealt with, such as the relation between the coloration and 

 the drying and shrinkage of the seed. 



With regard to the general question, it has already been 

 shown in Chapter XI that in the case of berries, such as those (a) Berries, 

 of Berberis^ Arum maculatum^ and Tamus communis, coloration 

 takes place within the moist fruit, and the same rule applies to 

 fleshy fruits of the Apple and Sapodilla types and to other 

 moist fruits. The seeds of Momordica acquire their colours 

 in the most watery of fruits, the yellowish-brown seed being 

 enclosed in a bright red soft covering. It is well to notice, 

 however, that not all fleshy fruits have coloured seeds, to wit, 

 those of Citrus and Cucumis ; but coloration seems to be more 

 general in such cases, and when it occurs it takes place inside 

 the moist fruit. 



In the same chapter it was noted that in dehiscent capsules, (6) Capsules, 

 as illustrated by those of .^sculus Hippocastanum (Horse- 

 chestnut) and Iris Pseudacorus, the seeds colour before the fruit 

 opens, the coloration being well advanced in the first case, but 

 in the second it only reaches the early stage of " browning." 

 Capsules, as has been shown in Chapter XIII, often dehisce 

 at an earlier stage than other types of dehiscent fruits, such 

 as leguminous pods. In such cases it often happens that the 

 seed-coloration is not complete when the fruit opens, the seeds 

 deepening in hue after the dehiscence. Under unusual con- 

 ditions the seeds may not begin to colour until the fruit 

 dehisces. Thus, the immature soft seeds of the Mahogany, 



