The Elements of Botany, For Beginners and For Schools. Gray Asa
(Fig. 54, 55), a near relative of Mirabilis, there is a singular modification; one cotyledon is almost wanting, being reduced to a rudiment, leaving it for the other to do the work. This leads to the question of the
36. Number of Cotyledons. In all the preceding illustrations, the embryo, however different in shape and degree of development, is evidently constructed upon one and the same plan, namely, that of two leaves on a caulicle or initial stem—a plan which is obvious even when one cotyledon becomes very much smaller than the other, as in the rare instance of Abronia (Fig. 54, 55). In other words, the embryos so far examined are all
37. Dicotyledonous, that is, two-cotyledoned. Plants which are thus similar in the plan of the embryo agree likewise in the general structure of their stems, leaves, and blossoms; and thus form a class, named from their embryo Dicotyledones, or in English, Dicotyledonous Plants. So long a name being inconvenient, it may be shortened into Dicotyls.
Fig. 46. Section of a seed of a Peony, showing a very small embryo in the albumen, near one end. 47. This embryo detached, and more magnified.
Fig. 48. Section of a seed of Barberry, showing the straight embryo in the middle of the albumen. 49. Its embryo detached.
Fig. 50. Section of a Potato seed, showing the embryo coiled in the albumen. 51. Its embryo detached.
Fig. 52. Section of the seed of Mirabilis or Four-o'clock, showing the embryo coiled round the outside of the albumen. 53. Embryo detached; showing the very broad and leaf-like cotyledons, applied face to face, and the pair incurved.
Fig. 54. Embryo of Abronia umbellata; one of the cotyledons very small. 55. Same straightened out.
38. Polycotyledonous is a name employed for the less usual case in which there are more than two cotyledons. The Pine is the most familiar case. This occurs in all Pines, the number of cotyledons varying from three to twelve; in Fig. 56, 57 they are six. Note that they are all on the same level, that is, belong to the same node, so as to form a circle or whorl at the summit of the caulicle. When there are only three cotyledons, they divide the space equally, are one third of the circle apart. When only two they are 180° apart, that is, are opposite.
39. The case of three or more cotyledons, which is constant in Pines and in some of their relatives (but not in all of them), is occasional among Dicotyls. And the polycotyledonous is only a variation of the dicotyledonous type—a difference in the number of leaves in the whorl; for a pair is a whorl reduced to two members. Some suppose that there are really only two cotyledons even in a Pine embryo, but these divided or split up congenitally so as to imitate a greater number. But as leaves are often in whorls on ordinary stems, they may be so at the very beginning.
Fig. 56. Section of a Pine-seed, showing its polycotyledonous embryo in the centre of the albumen, moderately magnified. 57. Seedling of same, showing the freshly expanded six cotyledons in a whorl, and the plumule just appearing.
40. Monocotyledonous (meaning with single cotyledon) is the name of the one-cotyledoned sort of embryo. This goes along with peculiarities in stem, leaves, and flowers, which all together associate such plants into a great class, called Monocotyledonous Plants, or, for shortness, Monocotyls. It means merely that the leaves are alternate from the very first.
41. In Iris (Fig. 58, 59) the embryo in the seed is a small cylinder at one end of the mass of the albumen, with no apparent distinction of parts. The end which almost touches the seed coat is caulicle, the other end belongs to the solitary cotyledon. In germination the whole lengthens (but mainly the cotyledon) only enough to push the proximate end fairly out of the seed; from this end the root is formed, and from a little higher the plumule later emerges. It would appear therefore that the cotyledon answers to a minute leaf rolled up, and that a chink through which the plumule grows out is a part of the inrolled edges. The embryo of Indian Corn shows these parts on a larger scale and in a more open state (Fig. 66–68). There, in the seed, the cotyledon remains, imbibing nourishment from the softened albumen, and transmitting it to the growing root below and new-forming leaves above.
Fig. 58. Section of a seed of the Iris, or Flower-de-Luce, enlarged, showing its small embryo in the albumen, near the bottom. 59. A germinating seedling of the same, its plumule developed into the first four leaves (alternate), the first one rudimentary, the cotyledon remains in the seed.
Fig. 60. Section of an Onion seed showing the slender and coiled embryo in the albumen, moderately magnified. 61. Seed of same in early germination.
Fig. 62. Germinating Onion, more advanced, the chink at base of cotyledon opening for the protrusion of the plumule, consisting of a thread-shaped leaf. 63. Section of base of Fig. 62, showing plumule enclosed. 64. Section of same later, plumule emerging. 65. Later stage of 62, upper part cut off. 66. A grain of Indian Corn, flatwise, cut away a little, so as to show the embryo, lying on the albumen which makes the principal bulk of the seed. 67. A grain cut through the middle in the opposite direction, dividing the embryo through its thick cotyledon and its plumule, the latter consisting of two leaves, one enclosing the other. 68. The embryo taken out whole; the thick mass is the cotyledon, the narrow body partly enclosed by it is the plumule, the little projection at its base is the very short radicle enclosed in the sheathing base of the first leaf of the plumule.
Fig. 69. Grain of Indian Corn in germination, the ascending sprout is the first leaf of the plumule, enclosing the younger leaves within, at its base the primary root has broken through. 70. The same, advanced; the second and third leaves developing, while the sheathing first leaf does not further develop.
42. The general plan is the same in the Onion (Fig. 60-65), but with a striking difference. The embryo is long, and coiled in the albumen of the seed. To ordinary examination it shows no distinction of parts. But germination plainly shows that all except the lower end of it is cotyledon. For after it has lengthened into a long thread, the chink from which the plumule in time emerges is seen at the base, or near it, so the caulicle is extremely short, and does not elongate, but sends out from its base a simple root, and afterwards others in a cluster. Not only does the cotyledon lengthen enormously in the seedling, but (unlike that of Iris, Indian Corn, and all the cereal grains) it raises the comparatively light seed into the air, the tip still remaining in the seed and feeding upon the albumen. When this food is exhausted and the seedling is well established in the soil, the upper end decays and the emptied husk of the seed falls away.
43. In Maize or Indian Corn (Fig. 66–70), the embryo is more developed in the seed, and its parts can be made out. It lies against the starchy albumen, but is not enclosed therein. The larger part of it is the cotyledon, thickish, its edges involute, and its back in contact with the albumen; partly enclosed by it is the well-developed plumule or bud which is to grow. For the cotyledon remains in the seed to fulfil its office of imbibing nourishment from the softened albumen, which it conveys to the growing sprout; the part of this sprout which is visible is the first leaf of the plumule rolled up into a sheath and enclosing the rudiments of the succeeding leaves, at the base enclosing even the minute caulicle. In