534 ON SEEDLINGS 



pubescent, and marked with two scars showing the remains or 

 trace of the perianth, and indicating the bicarpellary nature of the 

 fruit, indehiscent, one-celled, one-seeded, with remains of three 

 aborted ovules, one of which in some rare instances seems to have 

 been fertilised and grown to some size ; pericarp woody, lined 

 internally with brown spongy and scaly matter. 



Seed globose or otherwise conforming to the shape of the peri- 

 carp, suddenly narrowed to a short point at the apex, pale yellowish- 

 white, strongly marked with diverging simple or slightly forking 

 veins radiating from the chalaza to the micropyle ; raphe about 

 3-5 mm. long, ventral and next to the cord-like placenta arising 

 from the base of the fruit and passing along the side of the seed 

 (cf. Quercus) ; hilum lateral a little below the apex ; micropyle 

 and radicle superior ; testa thin, membranous. 



Embryo straight, occupying the whole interior of the seed, fleshy, 

 yellowish-white ; cotyledons plano-convex, thick, oily, each occupy- 

 ing half of the seed, semi-orbicular, cuspidate at the apex, or oblong- 

 cuspidate ; radicle small, superior ; plumule small. 



Germination. The thick cotyledons remain in the fruit, and 

 are not carried above the soil. The plumule forces itself out of the 

 nut and develops hypocotyl and rootlet. The cotyledons gradually 

 become aborted ; at their outer side are seen two yellow swellings 

 (rudimentary stipules) which also remain in the earth. 



Quercus pedunculata, Ehrb. (fig. 669). 



EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF FRUIT AND SEED. 



When the acorn and cupule together equal the size of a pea, all 

 the ovules are of equal size and decidedly pendulous, oblong, obtuse 

 at the lower and apical end, narrowed above the attachment with 

 the micropyle prolonged into a small, obtuse, hooked point ; the 

 raphe is ventral ; the chalaza apical and inferior ; the hilum form- 

 ing a longish attachment on the ventral aspect with no free 

 funicle. 



After fertilisation one ovule develops rapidly, becoming more 

 or less broadly ovoid, attached to the axis along one side, with the 

 subconical, obtuse, micropylar process still free and somewhat con- 

 spicuous. The cell containing this ovule is the only one that 

 develops, containing the young seed and one aborted ovule. The 

 other two cells of the ovary remain small and gradually become 

 pushed on one side with their aborted ovules. 



When the acorn has attained a diameter of 1-1 cm., and a 

 length of 1 cm. including the withered styles, the young seed is 



