Shake a tomato seed into the crease of your palm and it’s difficult to imagine how,within a few months, it will become a strapping plant producing fruit and seed of its own.
So what’s in this tiny package and how does tomato life begin?
Essential features of the seed are embryo and testa.
The embryo is the tiny ‘plant in waiting’; the testa, the seed coat which protects it.
The holy trio of the embryo are the radicle, plumule and hypocotyl.
The radicle is the first to emerge from the testa; downwards it goes to form the root.
Next to poke its way out – the hypocotyl. Aloft of which is the plumule which will develop into the shoot system.
Emergence is often a little white loop, like a sowing stitch. This is the hypocotyl and by being the first to break the surface and pulling the plumule along behind, it protects the precious plumule from damage during this journey from underworld to light. The hypocotyl is also the connecting part between root and shoot.
In anticipation of this red carpet arrival I’ve been practising my ‘Hello hypocotyl and how lovely to see you’ve brought plumule along with you’.
Well if you’re going to talk to your plants I guess it’s never too early to start !
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That’s an interesting post, thank you. I hope you won’t confuse the poor seedlings as they emerge as they won’t have heard such complex language before. If they answer you back with ‘you wot?’ it’s time to worry
Ok – I’ll keep the difficult words back for the time being – till I’ve developed some Tomato Flash Cards ! In the meantime I hope they’ll be encouraged by a gently whispered… Grow, Grow !