Applause to Eric! The scientific method run amok!
And I agree with:
>> Actually, Rick, I'm pretty sure that most seeds have a "survival instinct" for the radical to turn down always, no matter what angle they have to grow through to get to down.
They sure do, because roots (of most plants) always wind up down there in the soil, not climbing up the stems towards the sky. I'm not sure what function the pre-progammed "twist" serves, but I often see a tight U-turn in a radical, even before it turned again to aim down.
Carl's question was "which end up?", not "does it matter much?". Any excuse to get technical is enough for me, and the
practical answer had already been given four times. I did research it online for a while, because I recalled someone once answering, like "the root comes out of the non-pointed end but then it turns ..."
