Chapter 5. Plant Reproduction Laboratory ~ Seeds

A monocot seedling

Pritchardia remota

The photograph at the right shows two germinating seeds. These are seeds of the fan palm, Pritchardia remota, a species found naturally only on (endemic to) the remote island of Nihoa in the Hawaiian islands. The seed on the left is in the proper orientation in the planting medium (only a part of the fruit coat covering the seed is visible), while the one on the right (in a slightly earlier stage) has been laid on the surface in order to better reveal development of the root. The following structures are labeled:

co - coleoptile or shoot pole of plant axis; essentially a cap within which the plumule (first leaf) is developing, to eventually project through as in the seedling on the left.

ra - radicle; primordial root or root pole of axis (note tiny root cap), buried in the medium in the seedling on the left.

sc - scuttelum; that part of the cotyledon that remains inside the seed to absorb food stored in an endosperm.

(enlarge to examine).

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