Apple Seed Anatomy

Back to Apple Tree Reproduction

In the picture above we can see a brown seed coat surrounding a very thin, white layer of endosperm. The large white areas are mostly food storage in the form of seed leaves called cotyledons. The apple is a dicot, meaning it has two cotyledons or seed leaves. Some flowering plants are monocots and have only one seed leaf or cotyledon. Corn is a monocot. The embryo can be seen in the area where the seed comes to a point.

The embryo consists of an embryonic shoot and root system. The seed coat or testa is maternal tissue that hardens around the endosperm and embryo. The endosperm in many flowering plants acts as a nutrient for the embryo. The endosperm of the apple seed is very thin because it is almost completely used up during seed development as nutrients are taken up by the two cotyledons. The cotyledons are an important food source for the germinating apple seed before photosynthesis is established.