70 EASY LESSONS IN VEGETABLE BIOLOGY. 



remaining at the top of these fruits in the form of 

 brownish scales. The hazel-fruit consists of the pis- 

 til developed into the nut, with a covering of bracts 

 called the husk. The cup of the acorn is also formed 

 by bracts. In the strawberry, the succulent part is 

 the enlarged receptacle, containing numerous small 

 carpels, or fruits, often called seeds. The mulberry, 

 pine-apple, bread-fruit, pine-cone, and fig are made 

 up of numerous pistils formed by separate flowers 

 and combined into a common mass. 



12. The seed is usually contained in the seed-vessel 

 or fruit. If there is no seed-vessel, as in the fir, the 

 seed is said to be naked. In order that the seed may 

 be complete, it must contain the rudiment of the 

 young plant, or embryo. 



When the seed is placed in favorable circumstances 

 the little plant begins to germinate. Sec. 4. The 

 phenomena of sprouting seed are well seen in the 

 malting of barley. The grain is exposed to moisture, 

 heat, air, and is kept in comparative darkness. These 

 are favorable circumstances analogous to prepared 

 soil. A change takes place in the contents of the 

 grain. The starch, which is insoluble in water, and 

 unfit for the nourishment of the plant, is converted 

 into sugar, which is soluble, and easily absorbed by 

 the bioplasm of the cells as food. The young roots 

 are first protruded, and then the stem, surrounded by 

 a leaf called a cotyledon, or seed-leaf. If the barley 



