SEED. 
97 
beautiful and fertile world l And why, my young friends, are we 
never filled with alarm, lest the provisions of nature should fail ? It 
is because we know that a Being, unchangeable in purpose, and om¬ 
nipotent in means, directs the course of physical events, and He has 
promised that while the earth remaineth, “seed-time and harvest 
shall not cease. 55 
We have seen, in the progress of our inquiries, that while the pre¬ 
sent plan is diffusing around it beauty and fragrance, administering 
to the necessities and luxuries of man, the watchful care of that Be¬ 
ing who never slumbers nor sleeps, is, by a slow but certain pro¬ 
gress, perfecting that part which is destined to continue the species, 
and which “ is the sole end and aim of all the organs of fructifica¬ 
tion. 55 * 
The seed is the ovule in a mature state”, it is that internal part of 
the fruit which envelops the complete rudiment of a new plant, sim¬ 
ilar to that from which it received its existence. Seeds are various 
in their form ; the mustard is globular; some species of beans are 
oblong; the cocoa-nut is ovoid; the buckwheat is angular, &c. 
The seed consists of three principal parts, viz.: the eye , husk, and 
kernel . 
1st. The Eye , or hilum , is the scar formed by the separation of the 
funicle, a membrane or thread, which connected the seed with the 
pericarp, and conveyed to the former the necessary nourishment 
This connecting membrane is usually very short; but in the mag¬ 
nolia and some other plants it is several inches in length. When 
the seed is fully ripe, the connexion between it and the pericarp 
Fig. 109. ceases by the withering and separation of the 
funicle, leaving upon the outer surface of the 
seed the*mark of its insertion. This scar, called 
the eye, is very conspicuous in the bean, which 
also exhibits the pore through which the nour¬ 
ishment was conveyed to the internal parts of 
the seed. That part of the seed which contains 
the eye is called the base; the part opposite is 
called the apex. 
Fig. 109 represents the garden bean ; it 
is an oblong, tunicated seed; between its two 
thick cotyledons, at a, may be seen the hilum or 
eye. 
2d, The Husk is the outer coat of the seed, which, on boiling, be¬ 
comes separate ; as in peas, beans, Indian corn, &c.; this skin is also 
called the spermoderm , from the Greek sperma , signifying seed, and 
derma , skin. The spermoderm or skin of the seed, consists of three 
coats, analogous to the three divisions of the pericarp ; the external 
skin , called the testa or cuticle , corresponds to the epicarp ; the cel-, 
lular tissue, called mesosperm , corresponds to the sarcocarp; and the 
internal skin, or endosperm , corresponds to the endocarp , or inside 
skin of the pericarp.f The husk surrounds the kernel, and is essen¬ 
tial, as the kernel, which was originally a fluid, could not have been 
formed without its presence. 
3d. The Kernel includes all that is contained within the husk or 
spermoderm; it is also called the nucleus or almond of the seed* 
* Linnseus. 
t These three divisions may not always seem distinct, as in some cases, the meso ~ 
sperm is scarcely to be separated from the cuticle. 
Parts of the seed—Eye—Husk—Divisions of the Spermoderm—Cuticle—Mesosperm 
'-Endosperm—Husk essential —Kernel. 
9 
