Endosperm dicots

Some monocot, primary cell-wall polysaccharides may be cross-linked by esters of ferulic acid (4-hydroxy-3-methoxycinnamic acid). There is evidence for the existence of such cross-links in monocot tissues containing secondary walls, including Italia ryegrass stem276 and wheat endosperm.277 Ferulic acid is also present in barley cell-wall,278 and it has been reported that treatment with base releases ferulic acid from the cell walls of several Graminae,276 supporting the idea that ferulic acid is bound to the wall as an ester. However, ferulic acid has not, so far, been reported to be present specifically in primary cell-walls in either monocots or dicots. 

In those dicot species which have a substantial endosperm the embryo, of course, occupies proportionately less of the seed than when the endosperm is lacking. Moreover, the cotyledons of these endospermic seeds, since they... 

A large section of this Chapter is devoted to the production and storage of reserves in the seed, for it is upon such reserves that the embryo will eventually depend, not so much for germination, but for its successful subsequent growth and development into a seedling. Work on the physiology and biochemistry of seed maturation has been limited almost exclusively to a few commercially important annuals. For convenience we shall consider nutrient assimilation in the cereals, which have a persistent endosperm, then those dicots in which... 

Most work on carbohydrate and protein reserve deposition in dicots has been carried out using commercially important non-endospermic legumes, particularly the garden pea Pisum sativum), field pea (Pisum arvense) and broad bean, field bean or horse bean Vida faba), with fewer studies on the french bean or bushbean Phaseolus vulgaris) and soybean Glycine max). 

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