EXPERIMENTS WITH PLANTS 



CHAPTER I 



THE AWAKENING OF THE SEED 



What is a seed ? Study as types of seeds the Horse- 

 bean (or other large bean), the Castor-bean and Cora. 



The Hokse-bean. — Examine some dry and some 

 soaked Horse-beans. Notice the 

 shape and appearance (color, mark- 

 ings, surface, etc.) of the seed. 

 The large black scar (hilum) at the 

 end of the seed (Fig. 1) is the 

 place of attachment to the pod. 



Remove the cover, notice its 

 texture, thickness, etc. ; is the 



Horse-bean; tke scar 

 (hilum) at (A). 



2. Horse-bean opened, show- 

 ing tlie two seed-leaves(sO. 

 the oauliolo (c) and the plu- 

 mule (p(). 



cover everywhere 

 closely applied to the germ? Within 

 the cover are two thickened halves, 

 the seed-leaves (Fig. 2, si) attached 

 to a short rod-like body, the cau- 

 licle (c) , at one end of which is a 

 cluster of very small leaves, called 

 the plumule (pi), which may be 

 easily studied with a hand-lens, or 



(1) 



