The Elements of Botany, For Beginners and For Schools. Gray Asa
35), this use of cotyledons for storage only is most completely carried out. For they are thickened to the utmost, even into hemispheres; the caulicle does not lengthen at all; merely sends out roots from the lower end, and develops its strong plumule from the upper, the seed remaining unmoved underground. That is, in technical language, the germination is hypogæous.
Fig. 26. Embryo of Pumpkin-seed, partly opened. 27. Young seedling of same.
Fig. 28. Embryo of Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris): caulicle bent down over edge of cotyledons. 29. Same germinating: caulicle well lengthened and root beginning; thick cotyledons partly spreading; and plumule (pair of leaves) growing between them. 30. Same, older, with plumule developed into internode and pair of leaves.
27. There is sufficient nourishment in the cotyledons of a pea to make a very considerable growth before any actual foliage is required. So it is the stem-portion of the plumule which is at first conspicuous and strong-growing. Here, as seen in Fig. 35, its lower nodes bear each a useless leaf-scale instead of an efficient leaf, and only the later ones bear leaves fitted for foliage.
Fig. 31. A Beech-nut, cut across. 32. Beginning germination of the Beech, showing the plumule growing before the cotyledons have opened or the root has scarcely formed. 33. The same, a little later, with the plumule-leaves developing, and elevated on a long internode.
Fig. 34. Embryo of Pea, i.e. a pea with the coats removed; the short and thick caulicle presented to view. 35. Same in advanced germination: the plumule has developed four or five internodes, bearing single leaves; but the first and second leaves are mere scales, the third begins to serve as foliage; the next more so.
28. This hypogæous germination is exemplified on a larger scale by the Oak (Fig. 36, 37) and Horse-chestnut (Fig. 38, 39); but in these the downward growth is wholly a stout tap-root. It is not the caulicle; for this lengthens hardly any. Indeed, the earliest growth which carries the very short caulicle out of the shell comes from the formation of foot-stalks to the cotyledons; above these develops the strong plumule, below grows the stout root. The growth is at first entirely, for a long time mainly, at the expense of the great store of food in the cotyledons. These, after serving their purpose, decay and fall away.
Fig. 36. Half of an acorn, cut lengthwise, filled by the very thick cotyledons, the base of which encloses the minute caulicle. 37. Oak-seedling.
Fig. 38. Half of a horse-chestnut, similarly cut; the caulicle is curved down on the side of one of the thick cotyledons. 39. Horse-chestnut in germination; foot-stalks are formed to the cotyledons, pushing out in their lengthening the growing parts.
29. Such thick cotyledons never separate; indeed, they sometimes grow together by some part of their contiguous faces; so that the germination seems to proceed from a solid bulb-like mass. This is the case in a horse-chestnut.
30. Germinating Embryo supplied by its own Store of Nourishment, i.e. the store in the cotyledons. This is so in all the illustrations thus far, essentially so even in the Flax. This nourishment was supplied by the mother plant to the ovule and seed, and thence taken into the embryo during its growth. Such embryos, filling the whole seed, are comparatively large and strong, and vigorous in germination in proportion to the amount of their growth while connected with the parent plant.
31. Germinating Embryo supplied from a Deposit outside of Itself. This is as common as the other mode; and it occurs in all degrees. Some seeds have very little of this deposit, but a comparatively large embryo, with its parts more or less developed and recognizable. In others this deposit forms the main bulk of the seed, and the embryo is small or minute, and comparatively rudimentary. The following illustrations exemplify these various grades. When an embryo in a seed is thus surrounded by a white substance, it was natural to liken the latter to the white of an egg, and the embryo or germ to the yolk. So the matter around or by the side of the embryo was called the Albumen, i.e. the white of the seed. The analogy is not very good; and to avoid ambiguity some botanists call it the Endosperm. As that means in English merely the inwards of a seed, the new name is little better than the old one; and, since we do not change names in botany except when it cannot be avoided, this name of albumen is generally kept up. A seed with such a deposit is albuminous, one with none is exalbuminous.
32. The Albumen forms the main bulk of the seed in wheat, maize, rice, buckwheat, and the like. It is the floury part of the seed. Also of the cocoa-nut, of coffee (where it is dense and hard), etc.; while in peas, beans, almonds, and in most edible nuts, the store of food, although essentially the same in nature and in use, is in the embryo itself, and therefore is not counted as anything to be separately named. In both forms this concentrated food for the germinating plant is food also for man and for animals.
Fig. 40. Seed of Morning Glory divided, moderately magnified; shows a longitudinal section through the centre of the embryo as it lies crumpled in the albumen. 41. Embryo taken out whole and unfolded; the broad and very thin cotyledons notched at summit; the caulicle below. 42. Early state of germination. 43. Same, more advanced; caulicle or primary stem, cotyledons or seed-leaves, and below, the root, well developed.
33. For an albuminous seed with a well-developed embryo, the common Morning Glory (Ipomœa purpurea, Fig. 40–43) is a convenient example, being easy and prompt to grow, and having all the parts well apparent. The seeds (duly soaked for examination) and the germination should be compared with those of Sugar and Red Maple (19–21). The only essential difference is that here the embryo is surrounded by and crumpled up in the albumen. This substance, which is pulpy or mucilaginous in fresh and young seeds, hardens as the seed ripens, but becomes again pulpy in germination; and, as it liquefies, the thin cotyledons absorb it by their whole surface. It supplements the nutritive matter contained in the embryo. Both together form no large store, but sufficient for establishing the seedling, with tiny root, stem, and pair of leaves for initiating its independent growth; which in due time proceeds as in Fig. 44, 45.
Fig. 44. Seedling of Morning Glory more advanced (root cut away); cotyledons well developed into foliage-leaves: succeeding internode and leaf well developed, and the next forming. 45. Seedling more advanced; reduced to much below natural size.
34. Smaller embryos, less developed in the seed, are more dependent upon the extraneous supply of food. The figures 46–53 illustrate four grades in this respect. The smallest, that of the Peony, is still large enough to be seen with a hand magnifying glass, and even its cotyledons may be discerned by the aid of a simple stage microscope.
35. The broad cotyledons of Mirabilis, or Four-o'clock (Fig. 52, 53), with the slender caulicle almost encircle and enclose the floury albumen, instead of being enclosed in it, as in the other illustrations. Evidently here the germinating embryo is principally fed by one of the leaf-like cotyledons, the other being out of contact with the supply. In the embryo