Seed

(sēd.) [A. S. sæd.] (Bot.) The perfected ovule of aplant, having an embryo formed within, which is the rudiment of a new plant similar in all respects to the original. A seed consists of an external skin, separable into several membranes, and the embryo. The latter is frequently surrounded by a deposit of solid matter, consisting of starchy and nitrogenous compounds, and called albumen or peri sperm, which varies in its nature, and sometimes is so loaded with oil that the latter is expre ed as an article of commerce. The embryo is composed of the plumule or gem mule, which on expanding becomes the stem of the new plant, the radicle which descends into the soil and becomes the root, and the cotyledons or rudimentary leaves, which usually differ from those subsequently put forth. Seeds differ much in size and external appearance. Sometimes the skin is polished and prettily colored, as in French beans; others are rough or pitted, or hairy, as in the cotton; the hairs of the seeds, in this case, yielding the cotton of commerce. As to the vitality of seeds after alapse of time, De Candole says that kidney-beans were succe fully raised from seeds at least 100 years old, taken out of the herbarium of Tournefort; but the statement of the germination of wheat obtained from Egyptian mummies is now generally doubted, the proof not being clear that the seeds experimented upon really came from the mummies. Fig. 585.-SEDILIUM, (14th century.) [s. 811] IMG:p0856_0.jpg:Gravür Seed -bud. (Bot.) Same as OVULE Seed -bud. (Bot.) Same as OVULE, q. v. Seed'-wool, (wul.) (Com.) The wool of raw cotton from which the seeds have not been removed. [s. 811]