PLANTAGINE^E 391 



PLAXTAGIXEJE. 



Benth. et Hook. Gen. PL ii. 1223. 



Fruit and Seed. The ovary is superior and syncarpous, 

 consisting of two carpels united to form two cells, or by the 

 development of spurious septa it becomes imperfectly three- to 

 four-celled ; in monoecious species it is one-celled. The ovules 

 are solitary, or vary from two to fourteen in each cell in dif- 

 ferent species, arnphitropous, and attached ventrally to axile 

 placentas, the solitary ovule in a one-celled ovary is basal. The 

 fruit is small, included in the persistent calyx, two-celled, two- 

 to many-seeded and dehisces circumscissly below the middle, at, 

 or near the base ; when one-seeded it is indehiscent. The seed 

 is peltate and attached by or near the middle to axile pla- 

 centas or to a basal placenta. The testa is mucilaginous, and 

 swells up in water. Fleshy endosperm is present in variable 

 quantity according to the species. The embryo is generally 

 large and straight, rarely curved, parallel to the hilum, and in 

 one-seeded fruits is erect or transverse. The cotyledons vary 

 in being ovate, oblong or linear, with their backs or edges to the 

 placentas in different species. The radicle is generally and 

 sometimes considerably narrower than the cotyledons, equal 

 in length or more often shorter and inferior. The seeds 

 observed may be conveniently divided into those having the 

 backs and those having the edges of the cotyledons to the 

 axis. The first group is represented by Plantago media 

 (fig. 597) which has small, oval, peltate, plano-convex or 

 subconcavo-convex seeds attached to axile placentas. The 

 hilum is below the middle of the ventral face of the seed. 

 The embryo generally lies across the seed diagonally, or 

 oblique to the median axis, and has oblong-spathulate cotyle- 

 dons lying in the broader plane of the seed with their backs 

 to the hilurn or placenta. The radicle is short. The fruit is 

 two-celled and four-seeded. P. major has two-celled and 

 eight-seeded fruits with smaller seeds; but the embryo is 

 similarly disposed to that of P. media. The cotyledons of 

 P. major are oblong and much wider than the terete radicle. 



