62 
REPORT ON BOTANY, MDCCCXLI : 
it hangs, it assumes a green colour, for it was previously 
uncoloured ; and this green colour spreads itself from below 
upwards, as far as the embryo, which remains uncoloured. The 
starch granules also become larger, and almost entirely fill up 
the cells ; but the phakocysts remain unchanged. Besides the 
green colour of the mistletoe seed, another circumstance has 
attracted the attention of Naturalists, namely, that two or 
three embryos almost always occur in one seed. The author 
was fortunate enough to observe ovules several times in 
various stages of growth, and saw that the union of the ovules 
commenced at the base and progressed upwards, by which, 
therefore, the polyembryony of the mistletoe became explained. 
The author never saw a cavity in the ovule of the mistletoe 
when the embryo Avas forming, neither did he ever find an 
embryo sac. The embryo exhibits itself, first, as already 
mentioned, at the upper end of the ovule or nucleus ; and the 
embryo cell, or the young embryo itself, is subsequently seen 
to be attached to a series of cylindrical cells in the cavity of 
the ovule, which cells constitute a kind of umbilical cord, but 
without a vascular system. 
Observations on the seed of Loranthus apliyllus , — A small 
conical mass is seen at the upper end, in a similar ovule to that 
of the mistletoe, which is more dense than the surrounding cel- 
lular tissue ; from this substance issue four tender tubes, which 
twist themselves round each other, and, in a manner, form a 
spiral vessel, almost in the same kind of way as Treviranus 
observed in the ovules of Abies. An oblong body, the embryo, 
is subsequently produced at the lower end. If several embryos 
are existing in one seed, they ahvays appear at the upper and 
lateral part of the nucleus. The separation of the embryos in 
the ovules is, in the first instance, caused by the united ovules 
being either of an unequal size, or by one growing more rapidly 
than the other. If the ovules are, however, of an equal size, 
the embryos then first turn themselves obliquely towards the 
axis of the nucleus, and afterAvards, as soon as the cotyledo- 
nary ends touch each other, the latter turn round, and are 
directed towards the point where the ovule is attached. The 
author explains the circumstance of the embryo shooting 
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