<P> Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or similar structure . The most common example of germination is the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm . In addition, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of hyphae from fungal spores, is also germination . Thus, in a general sense, germination can be thought of as anything expanding into greater being from a small existence or germ . </P> <P> Germination is usually the growth of a plant contained within a seed; it results in the formation of the seedling, it is also the process of reactivation of metabolic machinery of the seed resulting in the emergence of radicle and plumule . The seed of a vascular plant is a small package produced in a fruit or cone after the union of male and female reproductive cells . All fully developed seeds contain an embryo and, in most plant species some store of food reserves, wrapped in a seed coat . Some plants produce varying numbers of seeds that lack embryos; these are called empty seeds and never germinate . Dormant seeds are ripe seeds that do not germinate because they are subject to external environmental conditions that prevent the initiation of metabolic processes and cell growth . Under proper conditions, the seed begins to germinate and the embryonic tissues resume growth, developing towards a seedling . </P>

What is the first stage of seed germination