CHE REFERENCE LIBRARY - Pole Shift Survival Information

PROEzAGATIQN BY MEANS OF SEEDS AND SPORES
‘1‘1rls sccvl is the q)itomt~ 0T the plaint, the result. of the final
prwvss of tilt pht’s :A+~. ‘1’0 gc~rmimkte, to vegetate,
to build its ~*llur~~c~tr~rist ic* st ruct urc, to fiowcr, to seed- or to
sport, -. this is tl-ic c*~~*lc of the plant. Soim pla.nts die
n-h sccdiug is ac~(~oln~~lisl~t!(.l, whether the epoch transpires
within oiic t~wt~lvcmontl~ as with the pigweed or within a
suore of ~.cars or a century as with ccrt,ain agaves. Other
plants flr>wr NIP seed perennially for two or three years
as with 14 c’lovcr a ~1 hollyhock: or year after year indefinitely
as with tlic lilac anti the forest trees. Yet whatever
the span, the s~cl or the spore completes a qcle, that new
individuals miqv bc born to continue the life of the species.
The cliarktcristk prqqAiu2 body of the flowering plants
(1mr\v11 also ;1s pl’ellogalns and sI”ri~~“toph~~tes) is the seed.
It is the result, of scsuwl union iii the flower ; it comprises an
embryo contained within iiitcgunicnts, and usually a supply
of stored food to support the first growth of the plantlet. The
characteristic propagative body of t,he flowerless pla,nts (known
also ifs crgtogams) is the q~o~r ; it contains no embryo ; it
nia~- be only a single cell ; some spores are the result of sexual
uniou and others are not. The spore-bearing plants, when
the term is used in this sense, are the ferns and their allies, the
mosses, fungi, alga and lower forms. C~ennhation is the, act
or process by means of which a seed or spore gives rise to a new
plant. Germination is complete when the plantlet has ex-
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