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 that it exists chiefly at the time of the dispersion of the male dust by the antheræ, since, after its impregnation, it becomes a seed-vessel. Germen, by Pliny and the ancient botanists, is used to signify a bud containing the rudiments of the leaves.