462 ON SEEDLINGS 



forming a conspicuous white line along the ventral side of the pale 

 testa ; chalaza apical and inferior, conspicuous, pale-coloured, 

 yellowish- white ; hilum and micropyle contiguous, basal to the seed 

 and superior. 



Endosperm in the mature seed very scanty, forming an extremely 

 thin yellow film or membrane over the embryo resembling a third 

 coating of the seed, with a thicker, whiter (yellow when dry), fleshy 

 ring around the radicle. 



Embryo comparatively very large and almost filling the seed, 

 straight, fleshy, colourless ; cotyledons hemispherical or more often 

 semiovoid, strongly plano-convex, minutely auricled at the base, 

 otherwise entire, each occupying half of the seed, lying with their 

 backs to the raphe, and consequently to the placenta, or slightly 

 obliquely to it ; radicle very short, turbinate, obtusely pointed, 

 protruded about one -half to two- thirds its length beyond the 

 auricles of the cotyledons, and lying in the subacute tip of the seed, 

 surrounded by a thickish layer of endosperm, and close to the 

 micropyle. 



Benth. et Hook. Gen. PL Hi. 203. 



Fruit and Seed. The ovary is superior but enclosed in 

 the base of the perianth, and is one-celled, one-ovuled. The 

 ovule is basal, erect and anatropous. The fruit is enclosed 

 in the persistent base of the perianth which becomes thick, 

 fleshy and ultimately baccate, resembling in outward appear- 

 ance a true berry. The wall of the fruit proper is thin, 

 membranous and entirely filled by the large solitary seed. 

 The testa of the latter is thickened, and crustaceous or 

 hardened. The endosperm is very scanty, and membranous, 

 usually most abundant around the radicle, or it may be alto- 

 gether wanting. The embryo is large, straight, conforming to 

 the seed, with thick and fleshy plano-convex cotyledons, and 

 a very short, stout, inferior radicle. 



The seed of Hippophae rhamnoides is obovoid, slightly 

 notched at the basal hilum, and surrounded by a depressed 

 line, apparently caused by a ridge in the pericarp during 

 the early stages of growth. The testa is of great thickness, 



