CUPULIFER.E 527 



rarely four- to six-celled. The ovules are solitary in each cell or 

 twin and collateral, inserted at or near the apex of axile pla- 

 centas, pendulous and anatropous or nearly so, with a superior 

 micropyle. The fruit is a one-celled nut and variously sur- 

 rounded or included in a cupule consisting of bracts or bracte- 

 oles more or less cohering or grown together. The shell of 

 the fruit is crustaceous or woody and indehiscent. The seed 

 is most often solitary by abortion and exalbuminous with a 

 membranous testa. The cotyledons are fleshy or much folded 

 and foliaceous, while the radicle is short and superior. 



About five more or less distinct types of seeds have come 

 under my observation. The fruit or nut of Carpinus Betulus 

 (the Hornbeam) is ovate, and the solitary pendulous seed is 

 obovate. The embryo is straight and fleshy, with obovate, 

 entire, or emarginate cotyledons. The emargination is due to 

 the fruit being occasionally more markedly umbilicate than 

 usual at the base with the wall projecting into the cavity at 

 that point. The short radicle projects slightly beyond the 

 cotyledons. 



A second type occurs in Corylus Avellana (the Hazel- 

 nut) (fig. 668) which in the wild state has a more or less 

 globose fruit surrounded by a leafy cupule. The cultivated 

 Cobs and Filberts, varieties of this species, have much larger 

 and more or less oblong fruits. The seed conforms to the 

 interior, is solitary and suspended from the apex of a fila- 

 mentous, originally axial placenta. The young ovary is two- 

 celled, but the septa become ruptured and lost at an early 

 stage, leaving the placenta free. The latter gets pushed 

 against the sides of the pericarp, and is curved, like the seed, 

 in conformity with its outline, and bears the remains of three 

 aborted ovules at its apex, besides a perfect seed. In some 

 botanical text-books the filamentous placenta is spoken of as 

 the raphe. Strong slightly forked nerves radiate from the 

 chalaza all over the testa towards the micropyle. The raphe 

 and chalaza are ventral and next the cord-like placenta. The 

 embryo is fleshy with plano-convex or hemispherical cotyledons 

 enclosing the small plumule and the short superior radicle. 

 The seed of Corylus Colurna is more ovoid and somewhat com- 

 pressed, with the embryo conforming to the interior. The 



