The Seed-3
Legume seeds are of tremendous agronomic significance and the Fabacea is one of the largest and most important families of flowering plants. Consequently, we will examine the major characteristics of representative legume seeds.
We will use Honey Locust (Gleditisia) as our global model.
 Immature Gleditisia Fruit |
 Immature Seed External View |
 Immature Seed Split Open: A Cotyledon and Root Apex are readily visible. |
 Dissected Seed: Note the presence of a semitransparent Endosperm plus the Embryo. |
 Complete Embryo with both Cotyledons visible as well as the Hypocotyl. The Hypocotyl is the region of the stem BELOW the Cotyledons. |
 Embryo with one Cotyledon Removed: The Epicotyl with macroscopic Leaves is visible. The SAM is located at the base of the leaf primordia. The Cotyledon Scar is visible. This marks the Cotyledonary Node! H = Hypocotyl. |
| The Mature Seed has no visible Endosperm. This is consumed by the Cotyledons. | |
