92 OBJECT LESSONS IN BOTANY. 
185. But there are some kinds of fruit almost or. quite des- 
titute of a pericarp, consisting of naked seeds. On the pre- 
ceding page is a figure (801) of the Canada Yew, a trailing 
shrub of New England and Canada. The fruit is a single 
naked black seed, seated in a fleshy, coralline-red cup. The 
cone (of Pine, Fir, &c.) is made up of thick woody bracts, each 
covering in their axils two or more winged seeds (Fig. 800). 
LESSON XXIV. 
CONCERNING THE SEEDS. 
186. Lasr and most important is the seed, the perfected 
ovule, containing the germ of a new plant like its parent 
plant. The seed consists of a kernel and its shell. Place a 
bean in water, and soon its softened shell or skin is easily 
separated from the kernel. 
187. The shell of a seed may be of any color, as white, 
black, yellow, red, &c.; may be polished and shining, or dull 
and rough; may be of any shape, as round, or oval, or egg- 
shaped ; may be winged, as in Catalpa, or may be clothed 
with long hairs, called coma. The silk of Silk-grass (Ascle- 
pias) is the coma of the seed, and cotton is the coma of 
Cotton seed. The seed of Poplar (cotton-wood) or Willow 
is also furnished with coma. 
185. What plants have no pericarps? Please describe a cone of Pine; 
fruit of Yew. 
186. What is the seed, and what does it contain? Of what two parts 
does it consist ? 
187. What do you remember concerning the color and shape? Describe 
the coma of a seed. 
