OF THE ALBUMEX, OR WHITE. 



name is commonly given to the body of the seed in 

 the Grass and Corn tribe, the Palms, and several 

 other plants, thence denominated monocotyledones, 

 because the supposed Cotyledon is single. The 

 nature of this part we shall presently explain. It 

 neither rises out of the ground, nor performs the 

 proper functions of a Cotyledon, for what these 

 plants produce is, from the first, a real leaf; or, if 

 the plant has no leaves, the rudiment of a stem, as 

 in Cuscuta. In either case, the part produced is 

 solitary, never in pairs : hence Gaertner was misled 

 to reckon Cyamiis Nelumbo, Exot. Bot. .31, 32, 

 among the monocotyledonous plants, the body of 

 its seed remaining in the earth, and the leaves spring- 

 ing one at a time from the Embryo, just as in the 

 Date Palm, Wheat, Barley, &c. 



The Seed-lobes of Mosses, according to the obser- 

 vations of Hed wig, Fund, part 2. t. (>, are above all 

 others numerous and subdivided, f. 195, 196, as 

 well as most distinct from the proper leaves; so that 

 these plants are very improperly placed by authors 

 among such as have no Cotyledons, a measure origi- 

 nating probably in theory and analogical reasoning 

 rather than observation. 



Albumen, the White, is a farinaceous, fleshy, or 

 horny substance, which makes up the chief bulk ot 

 some seeds, as Grasses, Corn, Palms, Lilies, never 

 rising out of the ground nor assuming the office of 



