Literature

Seed Description

According to The American Heritage (2005) a seed contains the embryo and the food it will need to grow into a new plant, it is the mature fertilized ovule of angiosperms and gymnosperm. In order to lengthen the period of survival favorable for germination and growth of the plant the seeds provide great reproductive advantage. The seeds of gymnosperms develop on scales of cones or similar structures, while the seeds of angiosperms are enclosed in an ovary that develops into a fruit. The seed structure varies to some extent.

Corn Grain

Corn grains are example of monocotyledonous seeds in which each grain is a small, one-seeded fruit. The wall of the fruit and the seed coat are fused together. The main bulb of the grain and the house of food storage tissue is formed by the endosperm. Its embryo is very small and lies at one end of the endosperm. It consist of only one cotyledon known as the scutellum. The growing shoot tip of the embryonic axis is called the plumule and the root tip the radicle. Monocotyledonous seeds are mostly endospermic.

Black Beans, Kidney Beans, White Beans and Mung Beans with sprout

The beans are example of dicotyledonous seeds in which it is consists of two cotyledons that are enclosed in a seed coat. In the seed coat, a scar called the hilum and a small pore, the micropyle, can also be seen. An axis with its pointed end called radicle and the leafy end called the plumule is consists by the embryo. The seed has two fleshy cotyledons with lots of food material.