cotyledons revisited
- To: A*@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM
- Subject: cotyledons revisited
- From: "* <z*@rulbim.leidenuniv.nl>
- Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 09:29:32 +0000
Joe Clyde and the well known botanist
Impressed by the verdict of the self appointed judge I looked again
in several books Although I have not heard many if any arguments why
the first green leaf is the cotyl here are my arguments against:
1.
I looked in several books and found pictures of
germinating Peperomia Sagitaria Allium and Yucca( all monocots)
All named the structure connected with the seed and ending in the
haustorium, the cotyledon.I could not find a single picture naming it
otherwise< Could you give me the pages Joe were you did find it.
2.
The haustorium sucks food from the endosperm It is no coincidence
that. the greek word for suckers from squid is cotyledon!
3.
Joe states that the first leaf is the cotyl as it is already
present in the embryo. If one looks under the microscope in a
germinating hosta seed( as I did) no trace of a leaf can be found
However if one splits halves of a bean (the dicotot) one finds inside
small leaves so the opposite is true!
4.
Raven Biology of plants gives pictures on p446 and 449( in 5th
edition) and p557 567 in the sixth edition.
5
Raven and others too gives good definitions:
Cotyledons are the structures that store food in dicots (like beans )
and absorbs food in most monocots.
Just as I stated
6
Joe, if the first leaf is the cotyl can you give me then the name for
the structure connected with the black seed?
CONCLUSION:
The structure in hosta connected with the black seedcoat is the
cotyledon and the first green leaf is just that, the first green
leaf!
Ben J.M.Zonneveld
Clusius lab pobox 9505
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands
Zonneveld@RULbim.LeidenUniv.NL
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