328 ON SEEDLINGS 



minal leaflet acuminate, subacute, entire ; lateral ones slightly 

 toothed, ultimately glabrescent, petiolulate, light green, alternately 

 pinnatinerved ; petioles ribbed or striated, covered with short, glan- 

 dular hairs ; the young leaves are also covered with fine silky hairs 

 near their edges. 



Cneornm tricoccum, L. 



Fruit separating from the gynophore into three cocci, each 

 ovoid, with a free projecting base, which is by far the thickest part , 

 and from which it gradually tapers to the tip, where it is crowned 

 by the base of the persistent style ; one- to two-seeded, indehiscent ; 

 epicarp deep green before maturity, and retaining that colour if 

 picked ; mesocarp fleshy, moderately thin ; endocarp very thic k, 

 bony, brown when dry, and deep reddish-brown when mo ist. 



Seed obovoid, suspended obliquely from near the top of the inner 

 angle of the cell ; testa thick-walled, crustaceous, adhering closely 

 to the endocarp and deeper than it in colour ; tegmen thin, mem- 

 branous, adhering more to the endosperm; micropyle and hilum 

 basal at the upper end of the seed ; chalaza at the apex of the curve 

 of the endosperm, leaving a brown mark there when the latter 

 containing the embryo is removed from the testa. 



Endosperm copious, fleshy, white, curved nearly in the middle 

 so as to bring the apex near to a level with the basal end containing 

 the radicle, surrounding the embryo. 



Embryo much curved, surrounded on all sides by endosperm, 

 colourless when moist ; cotyledons linear, obtuse, entire, plano- 

 convex, curved, about equal in length to the radicle, accumbent, and 

 placed with their edges to the placental axis or slightly obliquely to 

 it ; radicle cylindrical, obtuse, less curved than the cotyledons, which 

 about equal it in length, extending a little beyond the cotyledons 

 and nearer the hilum. 



Seedling. 



Primary root long, wiry, tapering, colourless, with a few lateral 

 rootlets. 



Hypocotyl woody, erect, terete, glabrous, green above ground, 

 I" 5-2 cm. long. 



Cotyledons sessile, linear, plano-convex, or with the sides some- 

 what upturned, making them grooved, subacute, cuspidate, or sud- 

 denly and obtusely pointed, subcoriaceous, not very persistent, deep 

 green above, paler beneath, 1'5 cm. long, 2'5 mm. broad. 



Stem shrubby, flexuous, much branched from an early stage 



