396 ON SEEDLINGS 



Out of thirty-six seedlings that germinated, one had the one 

 cotyledon entire and the other bipartite, i.e. the seedling had 

 apparently three cotyledons, while another seedling had four such 

 cotyledons. This gives an average of 5'5 per cent, of seedlings 

 with cut or divided cotyledons, but the average might possibly be 

 much greater in a large batch. 



Plantago major, L. 



Capsule two-celled, eight-seeded, ovoid, obtuse, mucronate, gla- 

 brous, dehiscing circumscissly about the middle. 



Seed peltate, oblong, obtuse at either end, variously angled by 

 mutual pressure, convex on both surfaces, especially on the back, 

 smooth, minutely wrinkled or striated, pale green, becoming brownish- 

 green, ultimately black or nearly so ; hilum oval, ventral, incon- 

 spicuous ; micropyle and radicle inferior. 



Endosperm copious, fleshy, or somewhat horny when dry, 

 colourless. 



Embryo very similar to that of P. media. 



Plantago Coronopus, L, 



Ovary two-celled, many-ovuled; ovules attached below their 

 middle. 



Capsule ovoid or oblong-fusiform, two-celled, many-seeded, 

 dehiscing circumscissly. 



Seed oblong-oval, suddenly tapered to an obtuse point at the 

 lower end, small, pale brown, generally suffused with a glaucous 

 colour, dorsally compressed and obtusely aiicipitous ; hilum forming 

 a round, darker-coloured mark on the ventral aspect below the 

 middle of the seed ; raphe and chalaza inconspicuous ; micropyle at 

 the lower and obtusely pointed end of the seed. 



Endosperm in the mature seed moderately copious, fleshy, dirty 

 white. 



Embryo comparatively large, straight, central, nearly equalling 

 the endosperm in length, dirty white or pale brown in colour ; coty- 

 ledons linear, obtuse, entire, plano-convex, thick and semiterete or 

 even thicker, lying in the narrow way of the seed with their edges 

 to the placenta (the thickening occurring in the broader way of the 

 seed) ; radicle turbinate, obtusely pointed, much shorter than the 

 cotyledons, lying in the lower pointed end of the seed. 



Seedling (fig. 599). 



Primary root tapering, with numerous lateral fibres. 



Hypocotyl short, mostly subterranean, tapering into the root. 



