THE PLANT AS A PARENT 51 



perhaps, been better described than as "a tiny 

 plant wrapped up in a packet of food material/' 

 Cutting through the protecting skin of a bean, it 

 is found that the seed easily splits up into two 

 pieces. Between these two cotyledons, as they 

 are called, we shall find the germ a perfect little 

 plant in which all the parts are plainly discernible, 

 though on a diminutive scale. In the case of the 

 Bean, in common with many dicotyledonous plants, 

 the supply of starch for the use of the young plant 

 is absorbed into the cotyledons. The very large 

 number of seeds possessed of only one cotyledon 

 carry the supply of food material in a separate 

 store, which is spoken of as the albumen. The 

 substance set aside for the nourishment of the 

 seedling is sufficient to give the plant a good start 

 until it is able to set up housekeeping on its own 

 account. 



The seed has been endowed with a marvellous 

 vitality. If the conditions are not suitable for 

 its development it can very well wait until the 

 circumstances are more favourable. Thus, it is 

 seen that the seeds which fall to the ground in 

 the autumn do not, as a rule, germinate until the 

 following spring or summer. Well authenticated 

 instances are on record where seeds buried deeply 

 in soil have remained in a state of suspended 



