It's a Mystery!

My grandson was showing me the bean seed he had planted at school  - which had sprouted into a nice-looking plant.

We then headed outdoors so that he could show me something else.

To my surprise, he pulled the plant out of the soil and showed me the roots.

Grandma, what happened to the seed? Where is it?!

I looked at the roots... No seed husk in there, that I could see...

I don't know, I replied. It's a mystery... Maybe it melted. (I guess the right word would have been "dissolved.")

Leave the plant in the soil. Let it grow. Don't you want it to grow beans to eat?! (Thinking, even as I said it, that there was little likelihood that a bean plant growing in a small soil-filled glass would ever bear beans, especially if it was pulled out daily to check on its roots!)

So he replanted the bean, leaving me to ponder the mystery: What happened to the seed??