STRUCTURE OF SEED. 199 



or embryo is said to be Exalbuminous, and the embryo 

 is sometimes called Naked or Epispermic; in the con- 

 trary case, the seed or embryo is said to be Albumi- 

 nous or Endospermic. It must be observed that the 

 word Perispermic signifies, in the nomenclature of 

 Jussieu, that there is albumen, and in that of Richard, 

 that there is none ; an example which, in the midst of 

 numbers of others, proves the inconvenience of changes 

 of names. 



When the radicle is directed towards the hilum, 

 which, as we know, is the base of the seed, we say that 

 the embryo is Erect, or that the radicle is Inferior, 

 or directed to the base ; when it does not point to the 

 hilum, it may be either lateral as in the Coffee, or 

 directed upwards, it is then Superior, and the embryo 

 Inverted, as in the Doom-Palm; this is the only 

 exact sense in which the position of the embryo can be 

 designated. But carpologists have often extended these 

 terms in another sense; they have frequently referred 

 the direction of the embryo, not to the seed, but to the 

 fruit ; so that when a seed is pendent in the fruit, all 

 the terms which designate the position of the embryo 

 must be generally taken in a contrary sense. 



Whether the embryo be inferior or superior, it may 

 be erect, curved, or folded upon itself. In the first case, 

 if it be long, it occupies the axis of the seed, and is 

 named Axile, as in Sjwndias, Empctrum, See. ; if it be 

 short, it only occupies a small portion of the axis ; and 

 it is said to be Basal if at the base, as in Ranunculus; 

 and Apicilar if at the apex, as in Clematis. Similar 

 differences take place in curved ones ; they are usually 

 lateral, and situated at the side of the seed ; if they be 

 equal in length to it, or shorter, they proceed from their 

 origin to the other extremity, and are then said to be 

 Curved, as in different species of Polygonum, ; if their 



