INTRODUCTOET LESSONS. 



5. Albuminous Seeds. Eemove the shell-like coat of a castor bean, 

 and carefully split it flatwise. "What at first seems to be a large plumule 

 proves to be free from the rest of the kernel, and with care you may be 



12 

 uAii), showing at u the beut embryo in the scanty albumen; & 



9. Seed of Willow or Dig- 

 ger Pine cut so as to show 

 the straight embryo in the 

 center of the oily albumen. 

 a and &, embryo taken out, 

 the cotyledons {&) separated. 

 10. Seedof theCaetor-bean. 

 a, the broad thin embryo 

 nearly .dividing the albu- 

 men; &, the embryo removed 

 and the leaf-like cotyledons 

 separated. 1 1 . Seed of Da- 

 the embryo taken out and 



totyledous separated. 12. A grain of coffee, o^ the straight embryo 



able to get it out whole (Fig. 10.) It is a straight embryo with beautifully 

 veined, leaf-like cotyledons, embedded in a white, oily substance, which 

 makes up the mass of the kernel. This substance is called Albumen, a 

 name which aiDplies to anything inclosed with the embryo by the seed 

 coats. Peas, beans, acorns, nuts, and most large seeds have no albumen. 

 Carefully cut thin slices from a well soaked coffee grain until its embryo 

 appears as represented in Pig. 12. The horny, folded albumen makes 

 up most of the seed. A similar, but smaller embryo, may be found in 

 the brain-shaped, fleshy albumen of the ivy seed. The embryo of the 

 Tree-Datura, or Stramonium, is shown in Pig. 11. 

 It has slender cotyledons, folded down against a 

 thick radicle, the whole embedded in tough, fleshy 

 ajbumen. Take the embryo of a Morning-Glory 

 seed and pick the bits of transparent, jelly-like 

 albumen out of the pockets in the crumpled coty- 

 ledons. An attempt to flatten out the cotyledons 

 will probably result in something like 6, Pig. 13, 

 which may lead you to suppose that the coty- 

 ledons are separately crumpled, which is not the 

 . case. They stick closely together by their inner 

 faces, as do the cotyledons of other seeds you have 

 examined, and they are crumpled as one; but, being 

 notched at the end, they readily split down the 

 center. Buckwheat seeds will give you some trouble. 



13. Morning - Glory 

 Just appearing above the 

 ground with the seed coat 

 sticking to tlie cotyle- 

 doi!s. a, the swollen 

 seed; 6, embryo, with 

 the crumpled cotyle- 

 dons split down the 

 middle in the attempt 

 to flatten them. 



Indeed, it will 



