238 ON SEEDLINGS 



the embryo, for besides Stuartia, Laplacea, and Microsemma 

 mentioned above with a straight and flat embryo, it is nearly 

 flat in Gordonia, or the cotyledons are slightly undulate-plicate, 

 and slightly curved or oblique. This leads to another group 

 in which the cotyledons are folded, plaited, or undulated lon- 

 gitudinally, as in Camellia reticulata. Here the seeds are 

 extremely variable in outline and variously angled by mutual 

 compression, flattened on one side and convex on the other, 

 or flattened on both sides ; again they are more or less falcate 

 and drawn out to an obtuse three- to four-angled point, at 

 the opposite end from the hilum, oblong or oblate, with the 

 broadest end always next the placentas. There are two seed- 

 coats, the outer woody or bony, and the inner membranous. 

 The embryo is large, fleshy, straight, colourless, and lies 

 along the longer axis of the seed whether that is at right angles 

 or transverse to the placentas. The cotyledons are oblong, 

 obtuse, somewhat auricled at the base, much plaited longitudi- 

 nally, lying in the broader plane of the seed, with their edges 

 to the placenta in the oblate seeds, but with the radicle to the 

 hilum or placenta in the long and narrow ones. The seeds 

 in these cases would seem to be amphitropous and anatropous 

 respectively. Schima and Pyrenaria agree with this type in 

 having large embryos and corrugated cotyledons ; but the 

 radicle here is long and incurved or inflexed. Pelliciera has 

 broad, thick, and fleshy cotyledons with a straight radicle. 

 The tea-tree (Camellia theifera) offers a remarkable exception 

 amongst its congeners in having a large, fleshy, and globular 

 embryo, with the small radicle and plumule completely sur- 

 rounded or covered by the hemispherical cotyledons. The 

 radicle of C. reticulata projects considerably beyond the cotyle- 

 dons. Pelliciera is also remarkable in having a highly e volute 

 plumule. 



Hippocrepiform or much curved embryos occur in Visnea, 

 Anneslea, Ternstrcemia, Adinandra, Cleyera, Freziera, Eurya, 

 and Pentaphylax, all belonging to the tribe TernstrcemieEe. 

 This is due to the seeds, which are curved or horseshoe-shaped, 

 and generally of no great thickness, the cotyledons being 

 semiterete and shorter than the radicle. The elongation of 

 the radicle is carried to excess in Caryocar and Anthodiscus, 

 where the cotyledons are extremely reduced in length and 



