250 
earth, or its seed-vessel, and the leaves springing one at a time from the 
embryo, just as m the Incite P aim, TElieat, Ba? ley, &c 8 
The seed-lobes of Mosses, according to the observations of Hedwig, 
Fund, part 2. t. 6, are above all others numerous and subdivided, as well 
as most distinct from the proper leaves; so that these plants are very impro¬ 
perly placed by authors among such as have no cotyledons , a measure 
originating probably in theory and analogical reasoning rather than 
from observation. 
Albumen, the White, is a farinaceous, fleshy, or horny substance, which 
makes up the chief bulk of some seeds, as Grasses , Corn , Palms , Lilies, never 
rising out of the ground nor assuming the office of leaves, being destined 
solely to nourish the germinating embryo, till its roots can perform their 
office. In the Late Palm, Grertner , t. Q, this part is nearly as hard as a 
stone; in Mirabilis, Exot. Bot. t. 23, it is like wheat flour. It is wanting 
in several tribes of plants, as those with compound, or with cruciform flowers, 
and the Cucumber or Gourd kind, according to Gsertner. Some few legu¬ 
minous plants have it, and a great number of others which, like them, have 
cotyledons besides. We are not, however, to suppose that so important an 
organ is altogether wanting, even in the abovementioned plants. The 
farinaceous matter, destined to nourish their embryos, is unquestionably 
lodged in their cotyledons, whose sweet taste, as they begin to germinate, 
often evinces its presence, and that it has undergone the same chemical 
change as in Barley. The albumen of the Nutmeg is remarkable for its 
eroded variegated appearance,, and aromatic quality; the cotyledons of this 
seed are very small. 
Vxtellus, the yolk, first named and fully illustrated by Gsertner, is less 
general than any of the parts already mentioned. He charactetizes it as 
very firmly and inseparably connected with the embryo, yet never rising out 
of the integuments of the seed in germination, but absorbed, like the albu¬ 
men, for the nourishment of the embryo. If the albumen be present, the 
vitellus is always situated between it and the embryo, and yet is constantly 
distinct from the former. The vitellus is esteemed by Gsertner to compose 
the bulk of the seed in Fuci , Mosses, and Ferns, as well as in the genus 
Zamia, closely allied to the latter, see his t. 3, and even in Ruppia, Engl . 
Bot. t. 136, and Cyamus. In the natural order of Grasses the part under 
consideration forms a scale between the embryo and the albumen. 
