CIIEXOPODI ACKdE 419 



amphitropous. The fruit is a utricle, membranous, coriaceous, 

 or fleshy, generally included in the perianth and falling with it, 

 indehiscent, rarely circurnscissile, free or adhering to the testa. 

 The seed is erect, inverted or horizontal, lenticular, subglo- 

 bose, reniform or ovoid-compressed. The testa is crustaceous, 

 leathery, fleshy or membranous, sometimes adhering to the 

 endosperm, and consisting of a single or double layer. The 

 endosperm is farinaceous, fleshy or wanting. The peripheral 

 embryo is annular or horseshoe-shaped and surrounds the 

 endosperm ; it is rod-like and dorsal in the tribe Salicornieae, 

 or conduplicate and in the absence of endosperm occupies the 

 whole seed. Endosperm is wanting in the tribe Salsoleee and 

 others when the embryo is flat or coiled like a shell. The 

 cotyledons are, however, mostly narrow, plano-convex, or flat 

 in a few, and slightly wider than the elongated radicle. 



The seeds of Chenopodiuni Bonus-Hcnricus (fig. 609) are 

 reniform, small and black with a crustaceous testa. The 

 embryo entirely surrounds the periphery of the endosperm 

 except a small portion at the hiluni. The cotyledons are linear,, 

 plano-convex, lying in the narrow plane of the laterally com- 

 pressed seed, incumbent, of the same length as the radicle, but 

 slightly wider. The seed of Beta trigyna is globoso-reniform, 

 grooved along one side, laterally compressed and often angular. 

 It is suspended from near the apex of the utricle, and the 

 superior radicle is shorter and thinner than the width of the 

 cotyledons. The basal auricles of the seed are oblique or unequal. 



The seeds of Atriplex hortensis are of two sizes, the small 

 ones being black and similar to those of Chenopodium Bonus- 

 Henricus, while the larger ones are brown and more orbicular. 

 The large brown ones germinate much more quickly than the 

 small black ones, which would seem, under natural conditions, 

 to be more adapted to remain in a resting condition in the 

 ground during the winter, and germinate in spring. If such 

 is the case they would enable the plant to exist in a colder 

 climate than the large ones would. Of a sowing made on 

 October 29, one black seed germinated in four days, and 

 three days later no more had come up, whereas thirty-two of 

 the large brown seeds germinated in the seven days. On 

 November 16, a sowing was made of thirty-five each of the black 



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