84 



IX.-THE SEED. 



1. -HISTORICAL. 



Gaertner, J., "(De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum" 2 vols., 4to.. 1788-1807. 

 At vol. i. p. 170, Plate xxxiv. lie figures E. corymbosa (as Metrosideros gum(m)ifera) 

 and two species (somewhat uncertain) under M. salicifolia. These appear to be the 

 only Eucalpytus seeds figured in the work. Indeed, the genus was not known at the 

 time of publication of the first part of the work, and very little during the remainder. 

 The drawing of M. gum(m)ifera is not satisfactory, as far as (b) and (c) are concerned, 

 which purport to show the capsule in situ, (d) shows sterile seeds, and (e) fertile 

 seeds. 



Bentham. G., " Flora Australiensis." Ill, 1866. In the description of the genus 

 he says (p. 185) : — 



Seeds for the greater part abortive, but more or less enlarged, variously shaped and of a hard 

 apparently uniform texture, one or very few in each cell perfect, usually ovoid or flattened and ovate 

 when solitary, variously shaped and angular when more than one ripen; testa black, dark coloured, or 

 rarely pale, smooth or granular, not hard, in a few species expanded into a variously- shaped wing; hilum 

 ventral or lateral. 



At the conclusion of the genus he remarks (p. 188) : — 



For similar reasons 1 have very seldom mentioned the seeds, for great as are the differences observed, 

 we have, very seldom, means of judging whether they are individual or specific. The fruiting specimens 

 in our herbaria and museums, have generally shed their seeds, at least the perfect ones. The abortive 

 seeds are usually numerous in the capsule, unimpregnated and of a hard granular uniform texture, but 

 enlarged, especially those near the top of the capsule, and variously-shaped according to the degree of 

 mutual pressure, the several seeds of the same specimen often differing more from each other than the 

 corresponding ones of different species. Of perfect seeds there generally only ripen either two or three 

 or a single one in each cell, and their shape is accordingly modified. They are, moreover, always near the 

 orifice of the capsule and the first to be shed, and are thus unknown in a large portion of the species. 



The note concludes with. a. few remarks on the seeds of the Corymbosae, given 

 at p. 107. 



Mueller, " Eucalyptographia," 1879-1884. in the generic description, says: — 



Seeds numerous, but comparatively few fertile; testa of these thin, generally without any appendage, 

 or that of some species expanded into a membranous large terminal appendage, or that of other species 

 forming narrow membranes along the angles of the seeds. Hilum ventral or basal. Embryo of amygdaline 

 consistence. Cotyledons, &c. (see under "Cotyledons"), not yet published. 



