GERMEN, the seed bud; defined by Linnæus to be the base of the pistillum, which contains the rudiments of the seed; and, in progress of vegetation, swells and becomes the seed vessel.
In assimilating the vegetable and animal kingdoms, Linnæus denominates the seed bud the ovarium or uterus of plants; and affirms its existence to be chiefly at the time of the dispersion of the male dust by the anther; as, after its impregnation, it becomes a seed vessel. See BOTANY.