64 



FAMILIAR LESSON^S IN BOTANY. 



Fig. 112. 



parts, and placed under a microscope, it will disclose the 

 rudiments of the plant. This is called the embryo (Fig. 

 112). This embryo will be found to 

 consist of three parts, the (?•) radicle, 

 the (j)) phamile, and the (c) cotyledon, 

 154. The radicle descends and be- 

 comes the root, the plumule ascends 

 and develops into the plant (Fig. 113). 

 The cotyledons are the first leaves, and 

 serve to nourish the young plant until 

 the radicle has developed sufficiently to assume its duties 

 of drawing nourishment from the soil for the growth of the 

 plumule or plant. 



155. Before proceeding farther, 

 you must be told that the seed has 

 three parts : the outer covering, coat, 

 shin, or hush; the liiliim or scar, 

 made by the separation of the thread 

 that fastened the seed to the seed- 

 vessel or pericarp ; and the kernel. 



156. These parts can be plainly 

 seen in the bean. In boiling, the 

 skin or husk falls off; the hilum is 

 what we call the eye, and the kernel 



is the part we eat. 



157. Albumen constitutes the greater part of the seed, 

 and it is deposited around the embryo. In germination it 

 becomes food for the young plant. It is the nutritious 

 part of all seed, being flour in corn and wheat, the fleshy 

 part of the cocoa-nut, oil in the palma Christi, and hard 

 and bone-like in the vegetable ivory. 



Plumule. 



Cotyledon. 



Stem. 



Roots. 



Fig. 113. 



154. What is the radicle? The plumule? The cotyledon? Their growth, 

 devclopmei5t. and uses ? 



155. now many parts has the seed? What is the husk? Hilnm ? Kernel? 



156. In the bean how do these appear ? 



157. What constitutes the greater part of the seed? Where is the albamen 

 deposited ? Under what form does it appear in com ? Cocoa-nut ? Palma Christi ? 



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