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BOTANY
SEED' is the most fundamental thing in the study of plants. Seed is the material cause of the entire vegetable kindgom and it is also the end product, i.e. the life of a plant begins with the germination of the seed, passes through several stages and terminates with the production of seed. The chapter therefore starts with the classification of seeds. They are of four kinds:
– agrabīja
(i) Seeds of some plants are located on the
top e.g. Korantaka (ii) Seeds of some plants are located in the
root e.g. Lotusbirk
– mūlabīja
(iii) Seeds of some plants are located in the
knots e.g. Sugarcane
– parvabīja
(iv) Seeds of some plants are located in the
stem e.g. fig tree, woodapple tree
–
skandhabīja
Terms ahābienam and ahāvagasena refer to the material and the auxiliary causes of the reproduction of a particular species of plant. The former (yathābija) asserts that the plant which develops from a seed will be similar to its parent (from which the seed was shed). One cannot grow a mango-tree from the seed of a neem-tree. The latter term (yathāvakāśa) means the soil, water, time etc. which are the auxiliary causes for reproduction. One can get a crop of rice only if one sows the rice-seed in a well tilled soil, in the rainy season and so on. One cannot grow rice on rocky soil without adequate water and in summer. All the auxiliary causes are necessary for the reproduction of plants.
Terms kammovaga and kammaniyaņenam,' on the other hand, refer to the transcendental causes of the reproduction of a particular species 1.In Botany, seed is defined as-Fertilized and ripened ovule (female gera-cell) which can be shed from its parent plant and is capable of developing into another plant similar to its parent. Within protective coat (testa) is as embryonic plant, usually with its own food supply. 2. Daśavaikālika Sūtra, Ch. IV, Sūtra 8. 3. Sūtrakstānga Sūtra, Part II, Ch. 3, Sūtra 2.
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JAIN BIOLOGY
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