A Study of Pea-pods 



209 



remains of the style of the pistil, below or behind which the 

 pod itself has formed. Now hold the pod up to a strong 

 light, and you will see that ranged along one or other of its 

 borders are a number of bodies, larger or smaller, according 

 to the age of the pea, which are mounted on very short foot- 

 stalks. These are, of course, the pea-seeds themselves. 

 They are attached to a soft structure formed on the inside 

 of the shell, which is called a placenta. The structure which 

 fixes them is the " cord" (funis or funicle), and through it will 

 pass the juices which enable the pea-seed to swell and grow. 

 These seeds are placed alternately one on either side of the 

 line from which they spring. If you carefully separate the 

 two halves of the pod half the peas will go with one half and 

 the rest with the other. From which edge of the pod do the 

 seeds spring, the knife back or the edge of its blade ? Every 

 one who has ever shelled peas knows that by nipping them 

 they are easily made to burst open, but it is not every one 

 who knows which edge first gives way. The pod represents 

 a folded leaf, and one border is the midrib of the leaf, and 

 the other its edges which have joined. To these in the pod 

 the name "sutures" is given, and one is the upper and the 

 other the lower. The former is usually the straight one and 

 the latter the curved. The straight one usually represents 

 the joined borders of the folded leaf, and the latter the midrib 

 of the leaf. From the straight suture it is that the buds 

 arise from which the seeds grow. It is the opposite suture 

 which most easily tears open (in shelling peas). 



Broad beans have their seeds attached to the suture on the 

 curve, whilst sweet peas as a rule have their seeds attached 

 to the straight suture. In these also the remains of the style 

 always runs with this border. In the kitchen garden pea 

 some have their seeds under the straight suture, and some 

 under that which is curved. Nor does the position of the 

 remnant of the style help much. 



It is not possible in seed-pods of this family of plants to 

 determine by the curve which is the one which will have 



