14 MORPHOLOGY 



seeds serves to absorb the food material from the 

 endosperm and pass it on to the embryo. The Cereals 

 therefore, like the Pulses, form a staple food of the 

 major portion of mankind. Plants thus show a fore- 

 sight, as it were, in providing a store of food in the 

 seeds for the young seedling to grow at the expense 

 of the stored food at the time of germination ; the 

 young seedling puts forth its roots first, so that it 

 may absorb food from the soil, and from the food thus 

 absorbed gradually build its stems, leaves, &c. By 

 the time the seedling has grown, and is firmly estab- 

 lished in the soil by means of its roots, the store of 

 food in the seed becomes exhausted, the cotyledon or 

 the endosperm shrivels up, and the plant begins to 

 live on food absorbed from the soil by its own en- 

 deavours, and to lead an independent life of its own. 

 To see the shrivelled-up endosperm, examine the 

 germinating seeds of tal or Palmyra-palm, Cocoa- 

 nut-palm, or Date-palm ; to see the shrivelled-up 

 cotyledons, examine the germinating seeds of Pea 

 or Tamarind. 



CHAPTER IV 



THE ROOT 



Roots usually have to make their way through the 

 soil, in which considerable obstruction and resistance 

 await them. Their young, growing, delicate tips are 

 therefore provided with a layer of protective tissue 

 which is known as the root-cap. Behind the region 

 of the root-cap, the growing root for some distance is 

 furnished with close-set fine delicate hairs known as 



