PLAXTAGINE^E 



395 



Endosperm copious, fleshy, white. 



Embryo straight, narrow, colourless, a little shorter than the 

 endosperm and embedded in it a little nearer the dorsal aspect 

 of the seed and somewhat oblique to its median axis ; cotyledons 

 oblong- spathulate, plano-convex, tapering towards the base, obtuse, 

 entire ; radicle inferior, obtuse, shorter than the cotyledons. 



Seedling (fig. 598). 



Primary root slender, tapering, fibrous. 



Hypocotyl tapering downwards, -5-1-4 cm. long, glabrous, pale 

 green. 



Cotyledons linear- spathulate, or lanceolate, obtuse, tipped with 

 a dark spot or minutely emarginate, tapering into the petiole, 

 glabrous, light green, with a dis- 

 tinct midrib and obscurely reticulate, 

 1-1 cm. long including the petiole, 

 2*75 mm. wide, above the middle. 



Out of a batch of eight seedlings 

 two had one of the cotyledons more 

 or less deeply bifid or bipartite. 



Stem very short, constituting the 

 persistent rhizome. 



Leaves simple, radical, alternate, 

 exstipulate, petiolate, hairy on both 

 surfaces, longitudinally five- to seven- 

 or more -nerved, subplicate longitu- 

 dinally, and obscurely reticulate be- 

 tween the nerves, light green ; peti- 

 oles broad, more or less winged in the 

 old plant, dilated and sheathing at 

 the base, broadly and shallowly channelled above. 



No. 1. Spathulate, obtuse, entire, with a distinct midrib, and 

 obscurely reticulate. 



No. 2. Similar, but showing three nerves in the petiole. 



Nos. 3 and 4. Similar, but having three nerves extending nearly 

 to the apex. 



Ultimate leaves ovate, with short petioles or oval- elliptic, more 

 or less considerably drawn out at the base, five- to seven- or more 

 nerved longitudinally, plicate, obtuse, distantly and obscurely dentate 

 on the sides. 



Germination. In eight days fourteen seedlings germinated, and 

 twelve (a percentage of 85'7) carried the testa up with the coty- 

 ledons. 



PIG. 598.Plantago media. 

 Nat. size. 



