10 
HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED. 
Analysis of the Section. 
I. * Plants consist of two kinds of Organs : those of Vegetation ; what they are: 2. those of Repro 
duction ; what they are, what their use. 
4. The Root; what it is; rootlets. 5. The Stem; what it is, what it bears. 6. Leaves. 7. The 
Plant in Vegetation; action of the root, stem, and leaves: they change earth, air, and water into nour- 
ishment, and use this nourishment in growing. 8. Shrub or tree like an herb, only more extended. 
9. The plant reproduces itself, by seed; blossoming. 10. Object of flowers, fruit, seed: all intended 
for producing the germ or embryo ; what this is. 
II. Flowers, why particularly interesting to the botanist. 12. What the parts of a flower are; Floral 
Envelopes ; Essential Organs, why so called. 
13. Calyx. 14. Corolla. 15. Stamens; what they consist of ; Filament; Anther; Pollen. 16. Pistils; 
how situated; parts of a pistil; Ovary, Style, Stigma; its use. 17. Stamens and pistil shown in 
another flower, and the parts explained: Ovules, what they are. 18. All these parts not always 
present; what ones often wanting. 19. Leaves of a corolla, called Petals; of a calyx, Sepals. 
20. What becomes of the parts of a blossom. 
21. Fruit, what it is, what it contains. 22. Seeds, what they are, what the part is that grows. 
23. Embryo or Germ ; what it consists of : Cotyledons or Seed-leaves ; Radicle or Stemlet. 
Section II. — How Plants grow from the Seed. 
24. Illustrated by the Morning-Glory. We now know what all the parts of a plant 
are ; that a plant, after growing or vegetating awhile, blossoms ; that flowers give 
rise to fruit ; that the fruit contains one or more seeds ; and that the essential part 
of a seed is the embryo or germ of a new plant. To produce, protect, and nourish 
this germ, is the object of the flower, the fruit, and the seed. The object of the 
embryo is to grow and become a new plant. How it grows, is what we have now 
to learn. 
25. Life in a Seed. But first let us notice that it does not generally grow at once. 
Although alive, a seed may for a long while show no signs of life, and feel neither 
the summer’s heat nor the winter’s cold. Still it lives on where it falls, in this 
slumbering way, until the next spring in most plants, or sometimes until the spring 
after that, before it begins to grow. There is a great difference in this respect in 
different seeds. Those of Red Maple ripen in the spring, and start about the mid- 
dle of the summer. Those of Sugar Maple ripen in the fall, and lie quiet until the 
next spring. When gathered and laid up in a dry place, many seeds will keep alive 
for two, three, or several years ; and in this state plants may be safely transported 
* The numbers are those of the paragraphs. 
