4 NATURE TEACHING. 



embryo. In these cases we have to distin- 

 guish the seed-coat, the young plant or embryo 

 and the store of plant food. These may be 

 made ut in the seed of the Canna or Tom- 

 les-mois, where the embryo will be seen lying 

 in the midst of the store of plant food which 

 makes up the greater portion of the seed. 



3. In maize and corn the embryo will bu 

 found lying at one side of the seed, near the 

 pointed end (base) and easily distinguishable 

 as a white patch. In maize, which has been 

 soaked for a few hours in water, the embryo 

 may be readily separated from the rest of the 

 seed, when it will be seen how large a part of 

 the seed is occupied by the store of plant 

 food. 



4. This separate store of plant food is 

 often spoken of as the albumen* hence seeds 

 are described as albuminous or exalbuminous in 

 accordance with the presence or absence of 

 this albumen. The seeds of maize, guinea corn, 

 all the cereals and grasses, coffee, beet, carrot, 

 onion, cocoa-nut, date and other palms, afford 

 examples of albuminous seeds. 



* Theterm " albumen" is an unfortunate one, as the same term 

 is commonly employed to denote a large class of chemical 

 substances. There should be no difficulty, however, in under 

 standing the limited sense in which it is employed here. 



