416 



OX SEEDLINGS 



Scleropus amaranthoides has linear-oblong cotyledons and a 

 hypocotyl varying from 1-2*7 cm. in length. The first four 

 leaves are oblong, cuneate at the base, emarginate and much 

 narrower than those of the above species ; in the latter the 

 venation is strongly incurved. 



Amarantus hypochondriacus, L. (fig. 607). 



Ovary one-celled, one-ovuled; ovule basal, vertical, campylo- 

 tropous ; micropyle inferior. 



Fruit a pyxidium, small, ovoid, pale- coloured, glabrous, thin- 

 walled, one-celled, one-seeded, dry, dehiscing transversely about the 

 middle. 



,O.T. 



IT. 



FIG. 607. Amarantus hypocJtondriacus, * 28. A, vertical section of seed : 

 C, cotyledon ; H, hilum ; E, radicle ; P, endosperm ; OT, testa ; IT, tegmen. 

 B, transverse section of seed : B, radicle ; C, cotyledon. 



Seed lenticular, broadly elliptic or more often orbicular in out- 

 line with a minute notch at the base, biconvex, deep brown or black 

 and shining when mature, glabrous ; testa crustaceous, brittle ; 

 tegmen very thin, membranous, white ; hilum and micropyle con- 

 tiguous, basal ; raphe none. 



Endosperm white, farinaceous, forming a very thin layer at the 

 periphery of the seed, and surrounding the embryo, but forming a 

 much larger mass within the curved embryo. 



Embryo comparatively long, narrow and slender, much curved 

 round and just within the extreme circumference or periphery of the 

 endosperm, colourless ; cotyledons incumbent, linear, obtuse, slender, 

 plano-convex, lying in the narrow plane of the seed with their backs 



