BOTANY. 



precisely of the same meaning-, and al- 

 together superfluous. The seed-vessel 

 is formed of the germen enlarged, and is 

 not an essential part; for many plants 

 have naked seeds, guarded only by the 

 permanent parts of the flower. The wis- 

 dom of nature is very conspicuous in the 

 contrivance of seed-vessels in general; 

 some, which remain closed while they are 

 moist, split open with elastic force when 

 ripe and dry ; others serve for the food 

 of animals, by whose means their seeds 

 are transported to a distance ; others 

 make their way into the ground, by some 

 peculiar apparatus, near the spot where 

 they are produced ; while others are 

 wafted by the winds or transported by the 

 waters to far distant situations. The fol- 

 low ing are the different kinds of seed- 

 vessels: 1 Capsula. a capsule, fig. 40, is 

 dry and woody, coriaceous or membra- 

 nous, of one or more cells, opening and 

 discharging its contents by valves or by 

 pores. 2. Siligua, a pod, fig. 41, is a 

 long, dry, solitary, seed-vessel, of two 

 valves, and divided into two cells by a li- 

 near pan ition, along each of whose edges 

 the seeds are ranged ; of this the wall- 

 flower and stock are examples. SilicvZa, 

 a pouch, is a small round pod. S.Lesru- 

 men, a legume, fig 1 . 42, is the fruit of the 

 pea kind, solitary, formed of two oblong 

 valves, without any longitudinal partition, 

 and having the seeds ranged along one of 

 its margins only. 4. Drupa, fig'. 43, a 

 stone-fruit, like the peach and cherry, 

 has a fleshy undivided coat, containing a 

 single hard stone or nut. 5. Pomum, fig. 



44, an apple, contains a capsule of seve- 

 ral cells in a fleshy coat. 5. tiacca, fig. 



45, a berry, is fleshy, without valves, con- 

 taining one or more seeds lodged in pulp, 

 as the goose -berry and currant. Some 

 berries are compound, as the raspberry ; 

 others are of a spurious kind, the pulp 

 originating from some part not properly 

 belonging to the fruit, as the calyx in the 

 mulberry, and the receptacle in the 

 stiawberry. And, fig. 46, Strobilus,& cone, 

 originatesfrom a catkin, becomes harden- 

 ed, and enlarged into a compound seed- 

 vessel, as in the fir, birch, &c. 



6. Semina, the seeds, fig 47, the most 

 essential of all the organs of fructifica- 

 tion, being those to which all the others 

 are subservient. The seeds are compos- 

 ed of several parts, the most important 

 of which is the embryo, or germ. Linnaeus 

 calls it corculum, a little heart, in allusion 

 to its shape in the walnut, in which, as 

 well as in the bean, and other leguminous 

 plants, it is readily observed. Its position 

 is either upright, horizontal, or reversed, 



It is generally lodged within the sub- 

 stance of the seed, except in grasses. 

 Cotyledones, the cotyledons, or seed-lobes, 

 are intimately connected with the em- 

 bryo ; they are almost universally two in 

 number, though in the fir tribe they are 

 more numerous. When the seed has sent 

 its root into the ground, these organs ge- 

 nerally rise above the surface, and per- 

 form the functions of leaves till the proper 

 foliage is produced. Plants, therefore, for 

 the most part, are properly denominated 

 dicotyledones. Such as are called monoco- 

 tyledones have really no proper cotyledon, 

 and the first part that appears above the 

 ground from their seed is a real leaf. Al- 

 bumen, the white, makes up the chief bulk 

 of some seeds ; but never rises out of the 

 ground, nor assumes the office of leaves, 

 being destined solely to nourish the em- 

 bryo till its roots can perform their office. 

 It may be observed in grasses, corn, and 

 palm-trees : in some it is farinaceous; in 

 others as hard as a stone; witness the 

 date. The nutricious matter, which in 

 these plants constitutes the albumen, is 

 in others lodged in the substance of the 

 cotyledons. Vitellus^ the yolk, was first 

 named by Gsertner, and is supposed by 

 him to furnish nourishment to the em- 

 bryo. Dr. Smith, however, has first sug- 

 gested, that the Vitellus is rather a subter- 

 raneous cotyledon, see his " Introduction, 

 to Botany," 292. Testa, the skin, a sin- 

 gle or double membrane, envelops the 

 parts hitherto described, bursting irregu- 

 larly when its contents swell in germina- 

 tion. Hilum, the scar, is the point of at- 

 tachment, through which nourishment is 

 conveyed to the seed while growing. 

 This point is always considered as the 

 base of the seed in description. 



Seeds are often accompanied by appen- 

 dages or accessory parts, as pel/icula, the 

 pellicle, which adheres to their outside in 

 the form of a fine skin, sometimes downy, 

 sometimes of a mucilaginous substance. 

 An instance of the latter occurs in Salvia 

 verbenaca, whose seeds are celebrated 

 for extracting particles of dust from the 

 eye, by enveloping them in its mucilage, 

 which swells on the application of mois- 

 ture. Jlrittus, the tunic, is a complete or 

 partial covering of a seed, fixed to its base 

 only, and more or less closely enfolding 

 its other parts. In the euonymus it is 

 pulpy and orange-coloured, the seed itself 

 being ci-imson. The mace, which enfolds 

 the nutmeg, is of this nature. Many of 

 the orchis tribe are enveloped in a mem- 

 branous tunic, extending beyond the out- 

 line of the seeds, and giving them a light 





