Page 28 - The Miracle In The Seed

THE MIRACLE IN THE SEED

DIFFERENT KINDS OF SEEDS

GYMNOSPERMS (PLANTS WITHOUT A SEED COAT)
seed membrane
nutrient reserve
embryo

seed membrane

cone-bearing plants

ANGIOSPERMS (FLOWERING PLANTS)
seed membrane (Monocotyledons)
seed membrane and coat
nutrient reserve

embryo with single
cotyledon

grass orchids
palms
(Dicotyledons)
outer nutritive
tissue
embryo with two embryo with
cotyledons two cotyle-
dons

ranunculuses vegetables beets

These sketches of different varieties of seeds show how the shapes of the nutri-
ent reserve and the embryo differ in each one. (Grains de Vie, p. 18.)

The Importance of the Nutrients in Seeds
After fertilization while the seed is forming, sugar and fat are sto-
red in the seed together with starch and storage proteins, depending
on the plant species. Starch provides the seed with its main energy
supply. The storage proteins will produce the amino acids the embryo
needs to build other proteins that are important for the plant. But for
the embryo to absorb and transport the proteins and starch, which are