AUSTRALIAN BOTANY. 



LESSON I. 



SEEDS. 



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In tracing the progress of a plant 

 "^ through all its stages, and pointing 

 out the various organs developed at 

 its different periods of growth and their 

 uses, it is desirable to commence with 

 the seed, explaining its organization 

 and gradual change into the young 

 plant ; then showing in succeeding 

 lessons the structure of Root, Stem, 

 Leaf, Flower, and Fruit, the circle will 

 be complete, since the fruit of a plant 

 is the vessel which produces its seed. 

 Seeds, with few exceptions, are found in vessels which, 

 as just stated, are the fruits of the plants which produce 

 them. Wholesome or poisonous, palatable or tasteless, 

 juicy and melting like the orange and nectarine, or wooden 

 and uneatable like the cone of the sheoak and the seed- 

 vessel of the gum-tree, they are all botanically termed fruits; 

 and they are as varied in shape, size, substance, and quali- 

 ties as the plants from which they spring. A cherry, for 

 instance, is a fruit or seed-vessel, the hard stone containing 

 the seed. A pea-pod is another form of fruit, the peas 



