252 ON SEEDLINGS 



Ultimate leaves palmately seven-nerved, with five or seven lobes 

 or ultimately reduced to three ; middle lobe rhomboid-oblong, incise- 

 serrate from the middle upwards ; lateral lobes oblong, oblique, 

 serrate mostly on the posterior side ; basal lobes always small. 



Malvaviscus arboreus, Cav. 



Hypocotyl erect, terete, pubescent, 2-5-4 cm. long, light green 

 or colourless. 



Cotyledons reniform or transversely oblong, obtuse, entire or 

 minutely emarginate, cordate at the base, especially the larger one ; 

 petiolate, glabrous, light green, palmatinerved ; petioles long, terete, 

 pubescent. 



Stem erect, terete, herbaceous, pubescent ; Istinternode 6-8 mm. 



long. 



First leaves simple, cauline, alternate, ovate, acute, serrate, 

 petiolate, stipulate, pubescent, light green, pinnatinerved ; petioles 

 short, terete, pubescent ; stipules small, scarious, deciduous. 



Hibiscus Sabdariffa, L. 



Fruit a capsule, five-valved, many-seeded, dehiscing longitudi- 

 nally. 



Seed reniform, subtrigonous like the segment of an orange, 

 somewhat biconvex dorsally, that is, longitudinally and transversely, 

 tapering wedge-like to the ventral edge, glabrous, deep brown, 

 striated longitudinally or following the curvature of the seed ; 

 hilum median on the ventral aspect with the remains of the funicle 

 attached to it ; micropyle inferior ; seed-coat double outer (testa) 

 thick, coriaceous ; inner (tegmen) very thin, paler coloured. 



Etidosperm scanty, occupying the vacant space about the middle 

 of the seed, on the ventral aspect, and forming an extremely thin 

 layer along the ventral side of the cotyledons and radicle, fleshy, 

 white. 



Embryo curved, large, occupying nearly the whole of the seed, 

 yellowish-white ; cotyledons cordate-orbicular, slightly trilobate, with 

 deep auricles, emarginate, unequal, reaching the apex of the seed in 

 the course of their growth, then folding at the sides with the edges 

 of both towards the placental axis ; at the same time the apex 

 becomes folded or doubled in between the sides and in this way 

 grows nearer to the apex of the seed than the sides do. Nerves five 

 from the base, the two stronger of which proceed to the minute 

 lateral lobes of the cotyledons and are slightly branched ; the mid- 

 rib is alternately branched upwards. Radicle cylindrical, tapered to 



