PARASITIC PLANTS. 193 
stamens inserted between the lobes of the corolla, upon 
peculiar scaly fringes, not visible in the drawing, which 
are an expansion of the filaments of the stamens. 
The seed contains a filiform embryo, without cotyle- 
dons, lying spirally coiled in fleshy albumen, and is dis- 
tinctly discernible while the seed is in a green state; and 
here we see written, in the spiral form of the dormant 
embryo, a prediction of the character of the future plant. 
In the process of germination this ee 
embryo simply uncoils itself; one 
end as a radicle strikes downward 
into the soil, while the other, as a 
plumule, rises from the earth, first 
breaking ground in the form of a © 
loop, then when the point becomes disengaged resem- 
bling a fish-hook, and finally appearing quite straight in 
its efiort to reach some friendly support (Fig. 3). : 
It is generally represented in plates as rising in a spi- 
ral form, as also are the branches of the older plants, but 
this form is not manifest while the unsupported thread is 
stretching upward for succor, as if attracted by some 
neighboring object; it is only when the stem is obstruct- 
ed, or when it reaches the coveted prop, that the spiral 
form is assumed, and then it becomes very quickly ap- 
parent. This is probably true of all twining plants. We 
have seen the tendril of a squash vine rolled into a per- 
fect ball, when beat by the wind against a stone-wall, the 
irregularity of whose surface it in vain tried to grasp; 
while others upon the same plant, not meeting with ob- 
uction, were nearly straight. 
: The radicle, which is club-shaped, is often turned up 
_ form like a boot ; it never increases in size, or ramifies 
m the ground, but is sufficiently absorbant to keep the 
25 
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 
