Red Bean Experiment

Activity 1.6

I have 4 red beans and I'm going to explore the inside of them. First I have to peel the skin off the red bean. The skin is called the testa. I have peeled two of the beans, and this is how they look like with the unpeeled beans. With the testa moved, then you can see the cotyledons, which are the creamy colored structures.

Then I open the cotyledon in the middle. I can see the embryo plant, which is the little thing at the top of the bean.









We can see the micropyle and scar in this zoomed photo. The yellow circles there show the micropyle. The scar is the circle in the middle of the red bean. Micropyle is a tiny hole where the pollen grew into an ovule and it allows the water absorption. The scar, or hilum is where the bean was attached to the plant's stalk during the development.