112 



The Natural System of Botany. 



reality, as we have seen, they are only the seed vessels, each 

 containing a single seed. If one of these be cut through with 

 a sharp knife, the inside will present only a mass of white 

 flesh, which is the albumen ; unless the division has been made 

 exactly through the centre, from top to bottom, when a very 

 minute oval body will be seen near the base. This can be 

 taken out by the point of a needle, and when submitted to the 

 microscope, proves to be the embryo, or the part which grows 

 when the seed germinates, and is composed of the plumule, or 

 rudiment of the stem, the radicle, or part which forms a root 

 and the cotyledons, which are the beginnings of leaves. 



Some of these parts are represented in Fig. 2 ; 1, a petal 

 with the scale on the inside ; 2, a carpel, its ovary being 

 marked a; style, b ; and stigma, c; 3, section of a carpel ; d, 

 the ovule within it ; 4, section of the ripe carpel filled with the 

 seed ; a, .the embryo, b, the albumen ; 5, the carpels and some 

 of the stamens adhering to the receptacle. 



Fig. 2. 



On turning attention to the other parts of the plant, the 

 leaves are found to be dark green, and very much divided into 

 lobes. It will also be observed that their form is more simple 

 at the upper part of the stem, than near the root, the lobes in 

 the former heing more narrow, and not themselves divided- 

 while in the latter they are more expanded, and their edges 

 more deeply cleft. Beneath the flower, near the bottom of its 

 stalk, are two small leafy bodies, called bracts. These are 



