388 STUDIES IN SEEDS AND FRUITS 



III. Baccate Fruits. 



The green 

 hue of the 

 unripe seed 

 has but little 

 influence on 

 the colour of 

 the resting 

 seed with 

 leg^uminous 

 plants. 



As seen in the previous table, green pre-resting seeds 

 are frequent with Leguminosae. A few of the plants there 

 named are albuminous, having large foliaceous embryos of 

 almost the length and breadth of the seed, and enclosed 

 between two slabs of albumen, namely, Bauhinia^ Cassia 

 fistula, and Poinciana regia. Speaking of leguminous seeds 

 in general, there seems usually to be little or no connection 

 between the green coloration of the unripe or pre-resting 

 seed and the ultimate hue of the resting seed. Thus with 

 the seeds of Adenanthera pavonina, the successive stages of 

 coloration in the pod are green, yellow, pink, and, finally, 

 scarlet. It seems rarely to happen that the green hue of 

 the unripe seed is retained in the resting seed. This, 

 however, occurs with the wrinkled varieties of Peas, Pisum 

 sativum. In smooth Peas the green is replaced by yellowish 

 white. Then, again, the green colour of the immature seed 

 may be exchanged in the resting seed for black, as in 

 Bauhinia ; for different shades of grey, as in Guilandina 

 honducella ; for light brown, as in Cassia fistula ; for dark 

 brown, as in Leuc<£na glauca ; for chocolate brown, as in 

 Ulex europaus ; and for a black mottling on a light ground, 

 as in Vicia, Poinciana regia, C^salpinia sepiaria, and Cajanus 

 indicus. 



