Conclusions and Appraisals

But these inherent difficulties are only a partial cause of the uncertain picture that has emerged, for in many cases the experimenters have introduced factors which exacerbate the situation. For example, detached cotyledons and endosperms are often fully or partly immersed in a liquid medium and then compared. 

Availability of oxygen is indeed a factor which plays an important role in food mobilization in some seeds. In Cucumis for example, shortly after germination a peg of tissue develops on the lower surface of the hypocotyl which serves to lever off the testa (Fig. 4.13A). When this occurs rapid hydrolysis 

We are thus left with indefinite conclusions concerning the control mechanisms in dicot seeds. It seems likely that for some years hence the cereal grain will continue as the best-understood regulatory system in the mobilization of food reserves. 

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