EMBRYO

(Yunanca köken — orijinale bakınız.), 1 bud forth.) In Botany, a fleshy body occupying the interior of a seed, and constituting the rudiment of a future plant. It is divided into three parts;— viz. a plumula or growing point, a radicle or root, and a cotyledon or cotyledons. It is the vegetable foetus; and is so tenacious of life under particular circumstances, that there are well-attested instances ol its having preserved its vitality much beyond 1000 years. The term is also applied to the foetus in utero before the fifth month of pregnancy, because its growth has been compared to the budding of a plant. [s. 410]