FRUCTIFICATION, OR FLOWER AND FRUIT. 25 



more, in some tribes altogether wanting. They 

 either ascend out of the ground, and perform for 

 a while the office of Leaves (31), or remain bu- 

 ried, till they gradually decay. 

 3. Albumen, the White, a farinaceous, fleshy, horny, 

 or almost stony, substance, destined to nourish 

 the Embryo during the first stage of vegetation, 

 till the Root can perform its office (7). The Al- 

 bumen forms a separate body in Grasses, Palms, 

 the Liliaceous. tribe, and other monocotyledonous 

 Plants, properly so called, though this substance 

 itself, which makes up the chief bulk of such 

 Seeds, is commonly taken for their Cotyledon. 

 Becoming fluid, it is soon totally absorbed by 

 the sprouting Embryo of these plants. In many 

 dicotyledonous Plants the Albumen is likewise 

 distinct from the Cotyledons, as the Nutmeg, 

 where it is large and curiously eroded or sinuated ; 

 Mirab'dis, Polygonum, and Rum&v t where it is 

 mealy and shapeless, inclosing the Embryo and 

 Cotyledons ; and some few Leguminous Plants 

 (6 1 : '3), though in most of this last tribe it does 

 not constitute a separate part, any more than in 

 the Gourd family, the Walnut, and many others. 

 In such, the albuminous matter is lodged in the 

 substance of their Cotyledons; for it must be pre- 

 sent in some mode or other, to supply the first 

 food of the germinating Embryo. Gtertner distin- 

 guishes an organ by the name of / 7 //e//M<y,or Yolk, 



