Seed Anatomy

**Viable seeds are alive; they contain an embryo, stored food (endosperm),and are surrounded by a seed coat. A seed will germinate or began to grow when soil moisture, temperature, and oxygen, as well as light conditions, are right for that specific seed.

•Moisture is needed by most seed for the seed coat to swell and open

🌱Seed Coat - The protective outer coat of a seed.

🌱Cotyledon - an embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or more of which are the first leaves to appear from a germinating seed

🌱Hypcotyl - the part of the stem of an embryo plant beneath the stalk of the cotyledons and directly above the root

🌱Taproot - a straight tapering root growing vertically downward and forming the center from which subsidiary rootlets spring

🌱Root Hairs - Elongated microscopic outgrowths from the outer layer of cells in a root, absorbing moisture and nutrients from the soil.

🌱Root Tip - the terminal portion of a root or root branch usually including the root cap and the meristematic region behind it and often the regions of differentiation, elongation, and root hair formation