The term Scutellum refers to (JFR Plant Science 2018)

✅Explanation: In cereal grains (monocots), the single cotyledon is modified into a shield-shaped structure called the scutellum. It plays a vital role in absorbing nutrients from the endosperm during germination.

📌 Other Options Explanations:
-Residual nucellus of pepper seeds: Perisperm
-Outgrowth of pulse seeds: Caruncle or Strophiole
-Aril of Castor: Fleshy appendage on the seed

🔑Key Points:
-Maize is a monocotyledonous plant, meaning that there is only a single cotyledon in its seed.
-This single cotyledon is known as the scutellum.
-The scutellum is a specialized structure, responsible for absorbing and mobilizing the stored food materials from the endosperm.
-The endosperm is the nutrient-rich tissue surrounding the embryo in the seed.
-During germination, enzymes are secreted by the scutellum, which breaks down the stored food materials like starch and proteins into simpler forms that can be transported and utilized by the developing embryo.
-These nutrients are then transported from the endosperm to the growing regions of the embryo, providing energy and building blocks for cellular processes and tissue differentiation.
-Therefore, the scutellum acts as a conduit for absorbing food materials from the endosperm and supplying them to the developing embryo.

🔴Additional information:
-In the grass family, the scutellum is shield-shaped.
-It is situated towards one side (lateral) of the embryonal axis.
-At its lower end, the embryonal axis has the radicle and root cap enclosed in an undifferentiated sheath called coleorhiza.
-The portion of the embryonal axis above the level of attachment of the scutellum is the epicotyl.
-The epicotyl has a shoot apex and a few leaf primordia enclosed in a hollow foliar structure, the coleoptile.
-The cylindrical portion below the level of cotyledons is the hypocotyl that terminates at its lower end in the radicle or root tip.
-The portion of the embryonal axis above the level of attachment of the scutellum is the epicotyl.