SEED. 



nous seeds, as the bean, orange, and apple, the embryo may oe 

 plainly discovered. Its internal structure, before it begins to vege^ 

 tate, is very simple, consisting of a uniform substance, enclosed in its 

 appropriate bark or skin. When the vital principle is excited to 

 action, vessels are formed and parts developed Which were before 

 invisible. The embryo is usually central and enclosed by the coty- 

 ledons ; sometimes it is no more than a mere point or dot, and In 

 some cases, altogether invisible to the naked eye. 

 The embryo consists o{ the plume and radicle. 

 The Plume, or plumula, which.is the ascending part, unfolds itself 

 into herbage. 



The Radicle, or descending part, unfolds it- 

 self into roots. At Fig. Ill appears the 

 embryo in a germinating state ; a, represents 

 the radicle, b, the plume, c, the funicle, by 

 means of which the plant is still connected to 

 the cotyledons, and receives from them its 

 nourishment. 



To use the words of an ancient botanist, 

 " the embryo continues imprisoned within its 

 seed, and remains in a profound sleep, until 

 awakened by germination, it meets the light 

 and air, to grow into a plant, similar to its 

 parent." 



Fig. 111. 



" Lo ! ort each seed, within its slender rind, 

 Life's golden tiireads in endless circles wind ; 

 Maze within maze the lucid webs are roll'd, 

 And as they burst, the living flame unfold. 

 The pulpy acorn, ere it swells, contains 

 The oak's vast branches in its milky veins, 

 Each ravell'd bud, fine film, and fibre-line, 

 , Traced with nice pencil on the small design. 



The youllg NarcissUs, in its bulb compressed) 

 Cradles a sedond nestling on its breast ; 

 In whose fine arms a younger embryo lieS, 

 Folds its thin leaves, and shuts its floret-eyes ) 

 Grain within grain, successive harvests dwell, 

 And boundless forests slumber in a shell."* 



I'here are various appendages which may or may not be pl'esent 

 ■Without injury to the structure of the seed. 



Aigrette, or e^'ret, sometimes called pappus, is a kind of feathery 

 Clown with which many of the compound floWers are furnished, 

 evidently for the purpose of disseminating the seed to a considerable 

 distance, by means of winds ; as the dandelion. It includes all that 

 remains on the top of the seed after the corolla is removed. 



Stipe, is a thread connecting the egret with the seed. The egret 

 is said to be sessile, when it has no stipe, simple when it consists 



♦ These lines, which so beautifully set forth jhe manner in which the embryo is 

 contained wiihin the seed or bulb, are not strictly philosophical, as to the fact of the 

 future gerierations lying enfolded, the one withiH the other; it is true, that we may irt 

 many seeds, by the help Of a microscope, discern the form of the future plant, but we 

 cannot believe that this is the miniature image of another plantj which contains an- 

 other, and so on through successive generaiionsj for the fact is established, that a 

 seed does not produce a plant without being fertilized by the pollen. We may say that 

 a seed contains within itself the elements of future generations; but not their images, 

 except that of the immediate plant which is to issue frOm the perfected seed. 



What are the parts of the embryo 1— Flume— Radicle— What is the egret 'I- -Stipe 7 



