SEED. 97 



Deautiful and fertile world ! And why, my young friends, are we 

 never filled with alarm, lest the provisions of natm'e should fail? It 

 is because we know that a Being, unchangeable in purpose, and om- 

 nipotent in means, directs the course of physical events, and He has 

 promised that while the earth remaineth, " seed-time and harvest 

 -shall not cease." 



We have seen, in the progress of our inquiries, that while the pre- 

 sent plan is diffusing around it beauty and fragrance, administering 

 to the necessities and luxuries of man, the watchful care of that Be- 

 ing who never slumbers nor sleeps, is, by a slow but certain pro- 

 gress, perfecting that part which is destined to continue the species, 

 and which "is the sole end and aim of all the organs of fructifica- 

 tion."* 



The seed is the ovule in a mature state ; it is that internal part of 

 the fruit which envelops the complete rudiment of a new plant, sim- 

 ilar to that from which it received its existence. Seeds are various 

 in their form ; the mustard is globular ; some species of beans are 

 oblong; the cocoa-nut is ovoid; the buckwheat is angular, &c. 



The seed consists of three principal parts, viz. : the eye, husk, and 

 kernel. 



1st. The Eye, orhihcm, is the scar formed by the separation of the 

 funicle, a membrane or thread, which connected the seed with the 

 pericarp, and conveyed to the former the necessary nourishment. 

 This connecting membrane is usually very short ; but in the mag- 

 nolia and some other plants it is several inches in length. When 

 the seed is fully ripe, the connexion between it and the pericarp 

 Fig. 109. ceases by the withering and separation of the 



funicle, leaving upon the outer surface of the 

 seed the mark of its insertion. This scar, called 

 the eye, is very conspicuous in the bean, which 

 also exhibits the pore through which the nour- 

 ishment was conveyed to the internal parts of 

 the seed. That part of the seed which contains 

 the eye is called the base ; the part opposite is 

 called the ape.v. 



Fig. 109 represents the gai'den bean ; it 

 is an oblong, tunicated seed; between its two 

 thick cotyledons, at a, may be seen the hiluvi or 

 eye. 



2d. The Husk is the outer coat of the seed, which, on boiling, be- 

 comes separate ; as in peas, beans, Indian corn, &c. ; this skin is also 

 called the spermoderm, from the Greek sperma, signifying seed, ana 

 derma, skin. The spermoderin or skin of the seed, consists of three 

 coats, analogous to the three divisions of the pericarp ; the externa. 

 skin, called the testa or cuticle, corresponds to the epicarp ; the eel 

 lular tissue, called mesosperm, corresponds to the sarcocarp; and thf 

 internal skin, or endosperm, corresponds to the endocarp, or inside 

 skin of the pericarp.f The husk surrounds the kernel, and is essen- 

 tial, as the kernel, which was originally a fluid, could not have been 

 formed without its presence. 



3d. The Kernel includes all that is contained within the husk or 

 spermoderm ; it is also called the nucleus or almond of the seed. 



* Linnaeus. 



t These three divisions may not always seem distinct, as in some cases, the mcso- 

 eperm is scarcely to be separated from the cuticle. 



Parts of the seed— Eye— Husk— Divisions of the Spermoderm — Cuticle — Mesosperm 

 • -Endosperm— Husk essential— Kernel. 

 9 



