Seeds. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of seeds. A seed is the product of pollination and is the ripened ovule (egg) of a plant. It contains an embryo from which a new plant can grow, if the seed is in the right environment. It also contains a supply of food, which is used either while the embryo grows within the developing seed or during germination. Seeds are wrapped in a seed coat, which develops from tissues (integument) originally surrounding the unpollinated ovule.