48 ON SEEDLINGS 



The fruit is oblong-oval in outline, somewhat compressed, 

 ridged at the top, and longitudinally furrowed on both sides. 

 A transverse section shows that the endocarp, and seed are 

 infolded at the sides. The raphe touches the edge of the seed 

 at the lower end only. The strongest character of this type 

 is the ruminated endosperm. 



The ovary of Symphoricarpus racemosus is four-celled, and 

 contains four to five ovules in each of two cells, with one in 

 each of the other two. The latter only mature into perfect 

 seeds, having a bony, white testa with a membranous inner 

 layer. The endosperm is fissured or slightly hollow along the 

 centre, and the embryo is minute with ovate-oblong cotyledons. 

 The fruit is globose and baccate as in Lonicera Periclymenum ; 

 in the latter, although originally three-celled, it becomes 

 one-celled by the destruction of the septa and contains few 

 seeds. These are oblong, subcompressed and biconvex, with 

 a crustaceous testa. The embryo is small, with oblong or 

 ovate cotyledons. 



Seedlings. The cotyledons of the different species of this 

 family observed attain a considerable size during and after 

 germination, depending doubtless in a great measure upon the 

 size and shape of the seed, together with the quantity of reserve- 

 material. There is comparatively little variation amongst 

 them, and typically they may be described as oblong, obtuse, 

 entire, or incipiently emarginate, petiolate with two to three 

 pairs of nerves arising from different points of the midrib, 

 running longitudinally along the lamina, and some of them 

 again as a rule uniting with the midrib below the apex. The 

 petioles are slightly connate at the base. A good representa- 

 tive type is furnished by Sambucus nigra (fig. 420) having 

 oblong-ovate cotyledons. An interesting case of evolution is 

 shown by the primary leaves of the seedling. They are 

 opposite, and the two first pairs are cordate, serrate, and 

 simple. Those of the third pair are pinnately trifoliolate 

 with broadly ovate leaflets. The cotyledons of Viburnum 

 punctatum (fig. 426) differ chiefly from those of Sambucus 

 nigra in being seven-nerved. The leaves are all simple, 

 opposite and decussate, with the first pair ovate-elliptic and 

 bluntly serrate. The succeeding five pairs are more decidedly 



