Wood head : Azotes on the Bluebell . 



43 



Often such seedlings may be met with which have bored their 

 way through five or six decaying leaves, amongst which the 

 seeds became buried and protected in the autumn. 



By the middle of December the seedling has grown to two 

 or three inches in length, and immediately above the root is 

 seen a slight swelling, the first indication of a bulb. The 

 relationship of the parts in this region is shown in the diagram. 

 Fig. 3, a. So growth continues until early in the following year; 

 the foliage leaf grows rapidly, pushes its way through the slit in 

 the cotyledon tube, grows upwards into the air, and finally 

 ;ittains a length of five to six inches. This forms the first green 



Fig. 2, a, cells of tip of cotyledon (shaded), surrounded by cells of endosperm und rg-oing 

 dig-estion ; b, end of vascular bundle of cotyledon. X 200. 



leaf and assimilating organ, which is a narrow, solid structure, 

 semicircular in section (Fig. i, f) with three small vascular 

 bundles running through it. 



For a long time seed and seedling remain in close contact, 

 the solid tip of the seed leaf, embedded in the endosperm, 

 functions as a sucking or absorbing organ. To this end the 

 cells of the tip are specially modified as seen in Fig. 2, a.'"' A 

 section through the seed of a very young seedling, about the 



^aberlandt, Physiolog-ische Pflanzenanatomie, 1896, p. 210. 



1904 February i. 



