sae DUTT EOE) At ae ED a a wee, (vs SON BLA ENV TAYLOY ip Gas Soe ALBERT R® MANN LIBRARY AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY Tai Cornell University The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924000773030 Botany for Poung People and Common Schools, HOW PLANTS GROW, A SIMPLE INTRODUCTION TO STRUCTURAL BOTANY. WITH A POPULAR FLORA, OR AN ARRANGEMENT AND DESCRIPTION OF COMMON PLANTS, BOTH WILD AND CULTIVATED. ILLUSTRATED BY 500 WOOD ENGRAVINGS. By ASA GRAY, M.D, FISHER PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY. NEW YORK: IVISON, BLAKEMAN, TAYLOR, & CO., 188 & 140 GranpD STREET. 1881. OK af r / Os 88! Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by IVISON AND PHINNEY, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. BOTANY FOR YOUNG PUOPLE. Hurt Hirst. HOW PLANTS GROW. ConsIDER TNE LILIES OF THE ¥FIELD, HOW THEY GROW : THEY TOIL Nov, NEITHER DO THEY SPIN: AND YET I SAY UNTO YoU, THAT EVEN SOLOMON IN ALL IIS GLORY WAS NOT ARRAYED LIKE ONE OF THESE. — Matthew vi. 28, 29. Our Lorv’s direct object in this lesson of the Lilies was to convince the people of God’s care for them. Now, this clothing of the earth with plants and flowers — at once so beau- tiful and so useful, so essential to all animal life — is one of the very ways > in which He takes care of his crea- o tures. And when Christ himself’ di- rects us to consider with attention the BS ~ plants around us, — to notice how 2 BOTANY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. they grow, — how varied, how numerous, and how elegant they are, and with what exquisite skill they are fashioned and adorned, — we shall surely find it profitable and pleasant to learn the lessons which they teach. Now this considering of plants inquiringly and intelligently is the study of Borany. It is an easy study, when pursued in the right way and with diligent attention. There is no difficulty in understanding how plants grow, and are nour- ished by the ground, the rain, and the air; nor in learning what their parts are, and how they are adapted to each other and to the way the plant lives. And any young person who will take some pains about it may learn to distinguish all our common plants into their kinds, and find out their names. Interesting as this study is to all, it must be particularly so to Young People. It appeals to their natural curiosity, to their lively desire of knowing about things: it calls out and directs (i. e. educates) their powers of observation, and is adapted to sharpen and exercise, in a very pleasant way, the faculty of discrimination. To learn how to observe and how to distinguish things correctly, is the greater part of education, and is that in which people otherwise well educated are apt to be sur- prisingly deficient. Natural objects, everywhere present and endless in variety, afford the best field for practice; and the study when young, first of Botany, and afterwards of the other Natura Sciences, as they are called, is the best train- ing that can be in these respects. ‘This study ought to begin even before the study of language. For to distinguish things scientifically (that is, carefully and accurately) is simpler than to distinguish ¢deas. And in Naturau Hisrory* the learner is gradually led from the observation of things, up to the study of ideas or the relations of things. This book is intended to teach Young People how to begin to read, with pleasure and advantage, one large and easy chapter in the open Book of Nature; namely, that in which the wisdom and goodness of the Creator are plainly written in the VecrTaBLe Kincpom.* * Natural History is the study of the productions of the earth in their natural state, whether minerals plants, or animals. These productions make up what are called the Three Kingdoms of Nature, viz.: a 1. The Alineral Kingdom, which consists of the Minerals (earths, metals, crystals, &c.), bodies not endowed with life. 2. The Vegetable Kingdom, which comprehends Vegetables or Plants. 8. The Animal Kingdom, which comprehends all Animals. The natural history of the mineral kingdom is named MineRALocY. The natural history of the vegetable kingdom is Borany, — the subject of this book. The natural history of the animal kingdom is named ZojLocy. BOTANY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE, 3 In the First Part of this book we proceed to consider, under four principal heads or chapters, — J. How Plants Grow, and what their Parts or Organs are, Cuaprer I. Page 5. The Parts of a Plant, Secrion I. Page 5. How Plants grow from the Seed, . WT “ 10 How Plants grow Year after Year, me His “* 23: Different Forms or Kinds of Roots, Stems, and Leaves, IM, 8 Bw II. How Plants are Propagated or Multiplied in Numbers, CuapTer II. Page 56. How Propagated from Buds, Section J. Page 56. How Propagated by Seeds, a Il “ 58. Flowers: their Arrangement, their Sorts, &c., f Tl: 58: Fruit and Seed, TM TI. Why Plants Grow; what they are made for, and what they do, Cuapter III. Page 85. IV. How Plants are Classified, Named, and Studied, Cuapter IV. Page 93. Classification, — as to the Plan of it, Sxzcrion I. Page 93. Names of Plants, as Tk. ** 94, The Natural System of Classification in Botany, fT, (96: How to study Plants by the Flora, in Part IL, TV. £ 99: The Seconp Part of the book consists of a Popular Flora for Beginners, viz. a Classification and Description (according to the Natural System) of the Common Plants of the country, both Wild and Cultivated. Then follows a Dictionary of the peculiar terms which we have occasion to use in describing plants, or their parts, combined with a full Index to Part I. Every science, and every art or occupation, has terms or technical words of its own, and must have them. Without them, all would be confusion and guess-work. In Bot- any the number of technical words which a young student need to know is by no means great, and a little diligent study and practice will make them familiar. The first and most important thing for the student is, to know well the general plan ofa plant and the way it grows; the parts plants consist of; the uses of the sev- eral parts; their general forms, and the names which are used to distinguish them. This is all very interesting and very useful in itself; and it is indispensable for study- ing plants with any satisfaction or advantage to find out their names, their proper. ties, and the family they belong to; i. e. to ascertain the kinds of plants. 4 BOTANY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. Let the learners, or the class under their teacher, therefore, in the first place go carefully once through the First Part of the book, or at least through the first two chapters, verifying the examples and illustrations given, as far as possible, with their own eyes, and searching for other examples in the plants and flowers around them. Then they may begin to study plants by the Flora, or Second Part of the book, ac- cording to the directions given in the last section of Chapter IV. Whenever they meet with a word which they do not remember or clearly understand, they will look it out in the Index, and refer back to the place in the first part of the book where it is used and fully explained. Remember that every one has to creep before he can walk, and to walk before he can run, Only begin at the beginning ;\ take pains to understand things as you go on, and cultivate the habits of aceuracy and nice dis- crimination which this study is eminently adapted to inspire. Then each step will render the next one easy; You will soon make more rapid progress; will be able to ascertain with facility the names and the structure of almost all common plants; and will gradually recognize the various and interesting relationships which bind the members of the vegetable creation together in natural families, — showing them to be parts of one system; varied expressions, as it were, of the thoughts of their Di- vine Author; planned in reference to one another; and evidently intended to enlarge and enlighten our minds, as well as to gratify our senses, and nourish, clothe, warm, and shelter our bodies. So the study of Botany — the most fascinating branch of Natural History, especially for the young — becomes more and more interesting the more we learn of it, and affords a constant and unalloyed intellectual gratification. ° When young students have thoroughly mastered this little book, they will be well prepared to continue the study in the Lessons in Botany and Vegetable Phystol- ogy, and in the Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States, by the same author. The illustrations are referred to throughout by numbers, with “Fig.” prefixed. The numbers occasionally introduced, within parenthesis-marks, and without any prefix, (as on p. 25, line 1, and p. 36, line 9,) are references to former paragraphs, where the subject, or the word used, has already been explained. *,* The illustrations on the first page represent: ~ Fig. 1. Our commonest wild species of true Lily, viz. the Canada Lily. Fig. 2. The Chalcedonian Lily, a native of Palestine, with scariet flowers, sup: posed to be “The Lily of the Field” to which our Saviour referred in the Sermon on the Mount Fig. 3. Lilies of the Valley, not true Lilies, but belonging to the Lily Family. CHAPTER 12, HOW PLANTS GROW, AND WHAT THEIR PARTS OR ORGANS ARE. : ao : \ = = S SO) 7 J f. ext N ey) NY J ® SY Szection Il.—The Parts of a Plant. 1. Piants are chiefly made up of three parts, namely, of Root, Stem, and Leaves. These are called the plant’s Organs, that is, its instruments. And as these parts are all that any plant needs for its growth, or vegetation, they are called the Oreans or VEGETATION. 2. Plants also produce lowers, from which comes the Pruitt, and from this, the Seed. These take no part in nourishing the plant. Their use is to enable it to give rise to new individuals, which increase the numbers of that kind of plant, to take the place of the parent in due time, and keep up the stock ; that is, to reproduce and perpetuate the species. So the Flower with its parts, the Fruit, and the Seed, are called the plant’s Oreans or REPRODUCTION. y 3. The different sorts of Lilies represented on the first page, VN and the common Morning-Glory on this page, show all the — parts. \ @ 4, The Root (Fig. 4,7) is the part which grows downwards \ into the ground, and takes in nourishment for the plant from the . ,soil. It comrfonly branches again and again as it grows: its smaller brahches or fibres are named Rootlets. Real roots never . ‘ bear leaves, nor anything besides root-branches or rootlets. go 5. The Stem (Fig. 4, s) is the part which grows upwards, and bears the leaves and blossoms. At certain fixed places the 4. Morning.Glory, Stem bears a leaf or a pair of leaves. 6 HOW PLANTS GROW, 6. Leaves (Fig. 4, 2, 2) are generally flat and thin, green bodies, turning one face upwards to the sky, and the other downwards towards the ground. ‘They make the Foliage. 7. The Plant in Vegetation. We see that a plant has a body or trunk (in scien- tific language, an axzs), consisting of two parts,—an upper and a lower. The lower is the Root: this fixes the plant to the soil. The upper is the Stem: this rises out of the ground, and bears leaves, which are hung out on the stem in the light and air. The root takes in a part of the plant’s food from the soil: this the stem carries to the leaves. The leaves take in another part of the plant’s food from the air. And in them what the roots absorb from the ground, and what they themselves absorb from the air, are exposed to the sunshine and digested ; that is, changed into something proper to nourish the plant. For there is no nourishment in earth, air, and water as they are; but vegetables have the power of making these into nourishment. And out of this nourishment it prepares, the plant makes more growth. That is, it extends the roots farther into the soil, and sends out more branches from them, increasing its foothold and its surface for absorbing; while, above, it lengthens the stem and adds leaf after leaf, or shoots forth branches on which still more leaves are spread out in the light and air. 8. So the whole herb, or shrub, or tree, is built up. A tiny herb just ‘sprouted from the seed and the largest tree of the forest alike consist of root, stem, and leaves, and nothing else. Only the tree has larger and more branching stems and roots, and leaves by thousands. 9. The Plant in Reproduction. After having attended in this way to its nourish- ment and growth for a certain time, the plant sets about reproducing itself by seed. And for this purpose it blossoms. Many plants begin to blossom within a few weeks after springing from the seed. All our annuals, of which the Garden Morn- ing-Glory (Fig. 4) is one, blossom in the course of the summer. Brennzals, such as the Carrot, Parsnip, Mullein, and the common Thistle, do not flower before the second summer; and shrubs and trees, and some herbs, do not begin until they are several years old. 10. The object of the Flower is to form the Fruit. The essential part of the fruit is the Seed. And the essential part of a seed is the Germ or Embryo it con- tains. The Germ or Embryo is a little plantlet in the seed, ready to grow into a new plant when the seed is sown. Let us notice these organs one after the other, beginning with AND WHAT THEIR PARTS ARE. 7 11. The Flower, Flowers are most interesting to the botanist; who not only ad- mires them for their beauty, the exquisite arrangement and forms of their parts, and the wonderful variety they exhibit, but also sees in the blossoms much of the na- ture or character of each plant, and finds in them the best marks for distinguishing the sorts of plants and the family they belong to. So let the student learn at once 12. What the Parts of a Flower are. A flower, with all the parts present, consists of Calyx, Corolla, Sta- mens, and Pistils. One from the Morning-Glory (Fig. 4, f) will serve for an example. Here is one taken off, and shown of about the natural size, the corolla, Fig. 5, separated from the calyx, Fig. 6. The calyx and the corolla are the Floral Envelopes, or the leaves of the flower. They cover in the bud, and protect the stamens and pistils, which are the Essential Organs of the flower, because both of these are necessary to forming the seed. 13. The Calyx —a Latin name for “ flower-cup ” — is the cup or outer covering of the blossom (Fig. 6). It is apt to be green and leaf-like. 14. The Corolla is the inner cup, or inner set of leaves, of the flower. It is very seldom green, as the calyx commonly is, but is “ colored,” i. e. of some other color than green, and of a delicate texture. So it is the most showy part of the blossom. Fig. 5 shows the corolla of the Morning- Glory whole. Fig. 7 is the same, split down and spread open to show 15. The Stamens, These in this flower grow fast to the bottom of the corolla. There are five stamens in the Morning- Glory. Each stamen consists of two parts, namely, a Filament and an Anther. The Filament is the stalk; the Anther is a little case, or hollow body, borne on the top of the filament. It is filled with a powdery matter, called Pollen. Fig. 9 shows a separate stamen on a larger scale: jf, the filament; a, the anther, out of which pollen is falling from a slit or long opening down each side. parts are on a larger scale. Here is a Stamen (Fig. 9), with its stalk or Filament, f, and its Anther, a, discharging its yel- HOW PLANTS GROW, 16. The Pistils are the bodies in which the seeds are formed. They be- long in the centre of the flower. The Morning-Glory has only one pistil: this is shown, enlarged, in Fig. 8. The Rose and the Buttercup have a great many. A pistil has three parts. At the bottom is the Ovary, which becomes the seed-vessel. This is prolonged upwards into a slender body, called the Style. And this bears a moist, generally somewhat enlarged por- tion, with a naked roughish surface (not having any skin, like the rest), called the Stigma. Upon this stigma some of the pollen, or powder from the anthers, falls and sticks fast. And this somehow enables the pistils to ripen seeds that will grow. 17. Let us now look at a stamen and a pistil from one of the flowers of a Lily (like those shown on a reduced scale in Figures 1 and 2, on the first page), where all the low dust or Pollen. And by its side is the Pistil (Fig. 10), with its Ovary, ov.; and this tapering into a Style, st.; and on the top of this is the Stigma, stig. Now cut f- the ovary through, and it will be found to contain young seeds. Fig. 11 shows the ovary of Fig. 10 cut through lengthwise and magnified by a common hand magnifying- glass. Fig. 12 is the lower part of another one, cut in two crosswise. The young seeds, or more correctly the bodies which are to become seeds, are named Ovules. In the Lily these are very numerous. In the Morning-Glory they are few, only six. 18. These are all the parts of the flower, —all that any flower has. But many flowers have not all these parts. Some have only one flower- cup or one set of blossom-leaves. Lilies appear to have only one set. Some have neither calyx nor corolla; some stamens have no filament, and some pistils have no style: for the style and the filament are not necessary parts, as the anther and the ovary and stigma are. These cases will all be noticed when we come to study flowers more particularly. Mean- while, please to commit to memory the names of the parts of the flower, Calyx, Corolla, Stamens, and Pistils, and the parts of these also, and learn to distinguish them in all the common blossoms you meet with, until they are as familiar as root, stem, and leaves are to everybody. AND WHAT THEIR PARTS ARE. 9 19. Notice, also, that the calyx and the corolla, one or both, often consist of separate leaves; as they do in the true Lilies. Each separate piece or leaf of a corolla is called a Pétal: and each leaf or piece bf a calyx is called a Sépal. 20. The corolla, the stamens, and generally the calyx, fall off or wither away after blossoming; while the ovary of the pistil remains, grows larger, and becomes 21. The Fruit. So that the- fruit is the ripened ovary. It may be a berry, a stone-fruit, a nut, a grain, or a pod. The fruit of the Lily and also of the Morning- Glory is a pod. Here is the pod or fruit of the Morning-Glory (Fig. 4, fr. and Fig. 13), with the calyx remaining beneath, and the remains of the bottom of the style resting on its summit. And Fig. 14 shows the same pod, fully ripe and dry, and splitting into three pieces that the seeds may fall out. This pod has three cavities (called Cells) in it; and in each cell two pretty large seeds. Lily-pods have three cells, as we may see in the ovary in the flower (Fig. 12), and many seeds in each. 22. Seeds, These are the bodies produced by the ripened pistil, from which new plants may spring. Here (Fig. 15) is a seed of Morning-Glory, a little enlarged. Also two seeds cut through lengthwise in two different directions, and viewed with a magnifying-glass, to show what is inside (Fig 16,17). The part of the seed, that grows is 28. The Embryo, or Germ. This is a little plantlet ready formed in the seed. In the Morning-Glory it is pretty large, and may readily be got out whole from a fresh seed, or from a dried one after soaking it well in hot water. In Fig. 16 it is shown whole and flatwise in the seed, where it is a good deal crumpled up to save room. In Fig. 17, merely the thickness of the embryo is seen, edgewise, in the seed, surrounded by the pulpy matter, which is intended to nourish it when it begins to grow. In Fig. 18, the embryo is shown taken out whole, and spread out flat. In Fig. 19, its two little leaves are separated, and we plainly see what it consists of It is a pair of tiny leaves on the summit of a little stem. The leaves (Fig. 19, c, c) are named Seed-leaves or Cotylédons ; the little stem or stemlet is named the Radicle, r. 10 HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED. Analysis of the Section. 1.* Plants consist of two kinds of Organs: those of Vegetation ; what they are: 2. those of Repro duction; what they are, what their use. 4. The Root; what it is; rootlets. 5. The Stem; what it is, what it bears. 6. Leaves. 7. The Plant in Vegetation; action of the root, stem, and leaves: they change earth, air, and water into nour- ishment, and use this nourishment in growing. 8. Shrub or tree like an herb, only more extended. ®. The plant reproduces itself, by seed; blossoming. 10. Object of flowers, fruit, seed: all intended for producing the germ or embryo; what this is. 11. Flowers, why particularly interesting to the botanist. 12. What the parts of a flower are; Floral Envelopes; Essential Organs, why so called. 13. Calyx. 14. Corolla. 15. Stamens; what they consist of; Filament; Anther; Pollen. 16. Pistils; how situated; parts of a pistil; Ovary, Style, Stigma; its use. 17. Stamens and pistil shown in another flower, and the parts explained: Ovules, what they are. 18. All these parts not always present; what ones often wanting. 19. Leaves of a corolla, called Petals; of a calyx, Sepals. 20. What becomes of the parts of a blossom. 21. Fruit, what it is, what it contains. 22. Seeds, what they are, what the part is that grows. 23. Embryo or Germ; what it consists of: Cotyledons or Seed-leaves; Radicle or Stemlet. Srction I].— How Plants grow from the Seed. 24. Illustrated by the Morning-Glory, We now know what all the parts of a plant are; that a plant, after growing or vegetating awhile, blossoms; that flowers give rise to fruit; that the fruit contains one or more seeds; and that the essential part of a seed is the embryo or germ of a new plant. To produce, protect, and nourish this germ, is the object of the flower, the fruit, and the seed. The object of the embryo is to grow and become a new plant. How it grows, is what we have now to learn. 25. Life in a Seed. But first let us notice that it does not generally grow at once. Although alive, a seed may for a long while show no signs of life, and feel neither the summer’s heat nor the winter’s cold. Still it lives on where it falls, in this slumbering way, until the next spring in most plants, or sometimes until the spring after that, before it begins to grow. There is a great difference in this respect in different seeds. Those of Red Maple ripen in the spring, and start about the mid- dle of the summer. Those of Sugar Maple ripen in the fall, and lie quiet until the next spring. When gathered and laid up in a dry place, many seeds will keep alive for two, three, or several years; and in this state plants may be safely transported * The numbers are those of the paragraphs. HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED. 11 all around the world. How long seeds will live is uncertain. The stories of seeds growing which have been preserved for two or more thousand years with Egyptian mummies, are not to be believed. But it is well known that Sensitive Plants have been raised from seeds over sixty years old. Few kinds of seeds will grow after keeping them for five or six years; many refuse to grow after the second year; and some will not grow at all unless allowed to fall at once to the ground. There is no way of telling whether the germ of a seed is alive or not, except by trying whether it will grow, that is, will germinate. 26. (Germination and Early Growth, Germination is the sprouting of a plant from the seed. Having just illustrated the parts of a plant by the Morning-Glory, from the root up to the seed and the embryo in the seed, we may take this same plant as an example to show how a plant grows from the seed. If we plant some of the seeds in a flower-pot, covering them lightly with soil, water them, and give them warmth, or if in spring we watch those which sowed themselves naturally in the garden the year before, and are now moistened by showers and warmed by sun- shine, we shall soon see how they grow. And what we learn from this one kind of plant will be true of all ordinary plants, but with some differences in the circum- stances, according to the kind. 27. The seed first imbibes some moisture through its coats, swells a little, and, as it feels the warmth, the embryo gradually wakes from its long and deep sleep, and stretches itself, as it were. That is, the tiny stem of the embryo lengthens, and its end bursts through the coats of the seed; at the same time, the two leaves it bears grow larger, straighten themselves, and so throw off the seed-coats as a loose husk; this allows the seed-leaves to spread out, as leaves naturally do, and so the seedling plantlet stands revealed. Observe the whole for yourselves, if pos- sible, and compare with these figures. Fig. 19 is repeated from p. 9, and repre- sents the embryo taken out of the seed, straightened, enlarged, and the two leaves a little opened. Fig. 16 and 17 show how the embryo lies snugly packed away in the seed. Fig. 20 shows it coming up, the seed-leaves above just throwing off the coats or husk ‘of the seed. Fig. 21 is the same, a little later and larger, with the seed-leaves spread out in the air above, and a root well formed beneath. And Fig. 22 is the same a little later still. 28. At the very beginning of its growth, the end of the little stem which first comes out of the seed turns downward and points into the earth. From it the root is formed, which continues downwards, branching as it grows, and burying itself 12 HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED. more and more in the soil. The other end of the stem always turns upwards, and, as the whole lengthens, the seed-leaves are brought up out of the ground, so that they expand in the light and air,— which is the proper place for leaves, as the dark and damp soil is for the root. : 29. What makes the root always grow downwards into the ground, and the stem turn upwards, so as to rise out of it, we no more know, than we know why newly-hatched ducklings take to the water at once, while chickens avoid it, although hatched under the same fowl and treated just alike. But the fact ‘is always so. And although we know not how, the why is evident enough; for the root is thereby at once placed in the soil, from which it has to absorb moisture and other things, and the leaves appear in the air and the light, where they are to do their work. ' 80. Notice how early the seed- Colpledoas ar ling plant is complete, that is, becomes a real vegetable, with all its parts, small as the whole thing is (Fig. 21). For it al- —— Raticle or stemiet. ready possesses a root, to connect it with the ground and draw up what it needs from that; a stem, Root. to elevate the foliage into the light and air; and leaves, to take in what it gets directly from the air, and to digest the whole in the light (as explained in the last section, Par. 7). That is, it already has all the Organs of Vegetation (Par. 1), all that any plant has before blossoming, so that the little seedling can now take care of itself, and live — just as any larger plant lives—upon the soil and the air. And all it has to do in order to become a full-grown plant, like Fig. 4, is to increase the size of its organs, and to produce more of them; namely, more stem with more leaves above, and more roots below. We have only to watch our seedling plantlets a week or two longer, and we shall see how this is done. Cotyledons or seed-leaves. Plumule. 22 HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED. 18 31. The root keeps on growing under ground, and sending off more and more small branches or rootlets, each one adding something to the amount of absorbing surface in contact with the moist soil. The little stem likewise lengthens upwards, and the pair of leaves on its summit grow larger. But these soon get their full growth; and we do not yet see, perhaps, where more are to come from. But now a little bud, called the Plumule, appears on the top of the stem (Fig. 22), just be- tween the stalks of the two seed-leaves; it enlarges and unfolds into a leaf; this soon is raised upon a new piece of stem, which car- ries up the leaf, just as the pair of seed-leaves were raised by the lengthening of the radicle or first joint of stem in the seed. Then another leaf appears on the summit of this joint of stem, and is raised upon its own joint of stem, and soon. Fig. 23 shows the same plant as Fig. 22 (leaving out the root and the lower part of the stem), at a later stage; c,c, are the seed-leaves ; 7 is the next leaf, which came from the plumule of Fig. 22, now well raised on the second joint of stem; and /' is the next, still very small and just unfolding. And so the plant grows on, the whole summer long, producing leaf after leaf, one by one, and raising cach on its own joint of stem, arising from the summit of the next below ;—as we see in Fig. 4, at the beginning of the chapter, where many joints of stem have grown in this way (the first with a pair of leaves, the rest with one apiece), and still there are some unfolding ones at the slender young summit. 32. low te Seedling is nourished at the Beginning, Growth requires food, in plants as well as in animals. To grow into a plant, the embryo in a seed must be fed with vegetable matter, or with something out of which vegetable matter can be made. When a plant has established itself, — that is, has sent down its roots into the soil, and spread out some leaves in the air, —it is then able to change mineral matter (viz. earth, air, and water) which it takes in, into vegetable matter, and so to live and grow independently. But at the beginning, before its organs are developed and established in their proper places, the forming plant must be sup- plied by ready-made vegetable matter, furnished by the mother plant. On this supply the embryo germinating from the seed feeds and grows, —just as the new- 14 HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED. born animal does upon the mother’s milk, or as the ehick developing in the egg does upon the prepared nourishment the parent had laid up for the purpose in the yolk. 33. Tear open a fresh Morning-Glory seed, or cut a dried one in two, as in Fig. 17, and this supply will be seen, in the form of a rich and sweetish jelly-like matter, packed away with the embryo, and filling all the spaces between its folds. This is called the Albumen of the seed (that being the Latin name of the white of ‘an egz); and this is what the embryo feeds upon, and what enables its little stemlet (ig. 19, 7) to grow, and form its root downwards, and carry up and ex- pand its secd-leaves (c,c) in the air, and so become at once a plantlet (Fig. 21), with root, stem, and leaves, able to take care of itself, just as a chicken does when it escapes from the shell. a 34. This moist nourishing jelly would not keep long in that state. So, when the seed ripens and dries, it hardens into a substance like thin dried glue or gum, which will keep for any length of time. And whenever the seed is sown, and absorbs moisture, this matter softens into a jelly again, or gradually liquefies, and the seed-leaves crumpled up among it drink it in at every pore. A portion is con- sumed in their growth, while the rest is carried into the growing stemlet, thence into the root forming at one end of it, and into the bud (or plumule, Fig. 22) which soon appears at the other end of it, — supplying the materials for their growth. 35. Notice the same thing in Wheat, Oats, or Indian Corn. The last is the best example, because the grain is so large that all the parts may be clearly seen with- out magnifying. The abundant milk or soft and rich pulp of green corn is the same as the jelly in the seed of the Morning-Glory ; namely, it is the albumen of the seed, provided for the embryo (the chit or germ) to feed upon when growth begins. See Figures 44, 45, &c. This nourishing food (as we well know it to be) was produced by the mother-plant during the summer, was accumulated in the stalk at flowering-time, in the form of sugar, or syrup, was conveyed into the flowers and forming seeds ; a part was used to form the germ or embryo, and the rest was stored up with it in the seed, to serve for its growth into a plantlet the next spring. That it may keep through the winter, or longer, the sweet milk is changed into a starchy pulp, which hardens as the grain ripens into the firm and dry mealy part (or albumen), which here makes the principal bulk of the seed. But when sown, this meal softens and is slowly changed back into sugar again. And this, dissolved in the water the seed takes in, makes a sweet sap, which the HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED. 15 embryo imbibes and feeds on as it sprouts. That the meal or starch of the grain is actually changed into sugar at this time is clearly shown by malting, which is merely causing heaps of grain to sprout’a little, and then destroying the life of the embryo by dry heat; when the grain (now malt) is found to be sweet, and to contain much sugar. 36. The nourishment which the mother-plant provides in the seed is not always stored up outside of the embryo. In many cases it is deposited in the embryo itself, most commonly in the seed-leaves. Then the seed consists of nothing but the embryo within its coats. Maple-seeds are of this sort. Fig. 24 represents a seed of Red Maple in the lower part of the winged seed- vessel, which is cut away so as to show it in its place. Fig. 25 is the seed a little magnified, and with the coats cut away, bringing to view its embryo coiled up within and filling the seed completely. Fig. 26 is the embryo taken out, and a little unfolded ; below is the radicle or stemlet ; above are the two seed-leaves partly crumpled together. Fig. 27 is the embryo when it has straight- ened itself out, thrown off the seed-coats, and begun to grow. Here the seed-leaves are rather thick when they first unfold ; this is on account of the nourishing matter which was contained in their fabric, and which is used mainly for the earliest growth of the radicle or stemlet, and for the root formed at its lower end, as we see in the next fig- ure (Fig. 28: a, the radicle or stemlet of the embryo; 4, 4, the two seed-leaves ; ce, the root). By this time the little stock of nourishment is exhausted. But the plant, having already a root in the soil and a pair of leaves in the air, is able to shift for itself, to take in air, water, &c., and by the aid of sunshine on its foliage to make the nourishment for. its future growth. In a week or two it will have made enough to enable the next step to be taken. Then a little bud appears at the upper end of the stemlet, between the two seed-leaves, and soon it shows the rudiments of a new pair of leaves (Fig. 28, d) ; a new joint of stem forms to support them (Fig. 29); this lengthens just as the stemlet of the embryo did, and so the plantlet gets a second pair of leaves, raised on a second joint of stem 16 HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED. springing from the top of the first (Fig. 30). Meanwhile the root has grown deeper into the soil, and sent out branches. Having now more roots below, and, above, a pair of leaves besides the seed-leaves to work with, the seedling plantlet all the sooner makes veg- etable matter enough to form a third pair of leaves and raise them on a third joint of stem (as in Fig. 31); and so it goes on, step by step. This nour- 30 ishment in the embryo of the Red-Maple seed was a few weeks before in the trunk of the mother tree, as a sweet sap, that is, as Aaple-sugar. 37. Variations of the Plan of Growth. In the Morning-Glory, after the pair of seed-leaves, only one leaf is found upon each joint of stem (see Fig. 23 and 4). In the Maple there is a pair of leaves to every joint of stem, as long as it grows. In the Morning-Glory the food in the seed, for the growth to begin with, was stored up outside of the embryo; in the Maple it was stored up 7n @t, that is,-in its seed-leaves. The plan is evidently the same in both; but there are differ- HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED. 17 ences in the particulars. While the same kind of plant always grows in exactly the same way, different kinds differ almost as much at the beginning as they do afterwards. The great variety which we observe among the herbs and shrubs and trees around us, — in foliage, flower, fruit, and everything, — gives to vegeta- tion one of its greatest charms. We should soon tire of plants or flowers made all after one exact pattern, however beautiful. We enjoy variety. But the bota- nist finds a higher interest in all these differences than any one else, because he discerns one simple plan running through all this diversity, and everywhere re- peated in different forms. He sees that in every plant there is root growing down- wards, connecting the vegetable with the soil; stem rising into the light and air, and bearing leaves at regular places, and then blossoms, and that the parts of one kind of blossom answer to those of another, only differing in shape; and he de- lights in observing how the tens of thousands of kinds of plants all harmonize with each other, like the parts of concerted music, — plainly showing that they were all contrived, as parts of one system, by one Divine Mind. 38. So in the beginning, in the growth of plants from the seed, although the general plan is the same in all, the variations are many and great. The plan is well shown in the two seedling plants which have served for illustration, namely, the Morning-Glory and the Maple. Let us now notice some of the variations, as exhibited in a few very common plants. A great deal may be learned from the commonest plants, if we will only open our eyes to sce them, and “consider how they grow,” and why they differ in the way they do. Take, for instance, 39. The Bean. Soak a bean in warm water (if a fresh one is not to be had) and remove the coats. The whole kernel consists 5 of an embryo, as seen in Fig. 82. And almost the whole bulk of this embryo consists of two thick pieces, ¢,¢, which are the cotyledons or seed-leaves. We may make out the plan of the whole thing better by spreading these thick seed- leaves wide open, as in Fig. 33. Here the two thick seed-leaves are seen from the inside, ¢, ¢ ; they are connected with the upper end of a stemlet, which is the radicle, r; and above this already shows the bud or plumule, p. 40. So the embryo of the Bean is the same in plan as that of the Maple (Fig. 27), only the stemlet is much shorter in proportion, and the seed-leaves very much larger and thicker. What is the reason of this difference ? 18 HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED. 41. The seed-leaves of the Bean are thickened by having so much nourishment stored up in them, so much of it that they make good food for men. And the object of this large supply is that the plant may grow more strongly and rapidly very short radicle, or stemlet, Pull off one of the seed-leaves, as in Fig. 87, and you may see the plumule or little bud, p, ready to develop leaves and stem upwards, while the other end of the radicle grows downward and makes the root; the rich store of nourishment in the seed- | from the seed. It need not and it does not wait, as the Maple and the Morning-Glory do, slowly to make the second pair of leaves; but is able to develop these at once. Accordingly, the rudiments of these next leaves may be seen in the seed before growth begins, in the form of a little bud (Fig. 33, p), ready to grow and unfold as soon as the thick seed-leaves themselves appear above ground (Fig. 34), and soon making the first real foliage (Fig. 35). For the seed-leaves of the Bean are themselves so thick and ungainly, that, although they turn green, they hardly serve for foliage. But, having given up their great stock of nourishment to the forming root and new leaves, and enabled these to grow much stronger and faster than they otherwise could, they wither and fall off. It is nearly the same in 42. The Cherry, Almond, &. Fig. 36 is an Almond taken out of the shell, soaked a little, and the thin seed-coat removed. The whole is an embryo, consisting of a pair of large and thick seed- leaves, loaded with sweet nour- ishment. These are borne ona which is seen at the lower end. HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED. 19 leaves supplying abundant materials for the growth. A cherry-seed is just like an almond, only on a smaller scale. Fig. 38 is the embryo of a Cherry, with the very thick seed-leaves a little separated. Fig. 39 is the same developed into a young plantlet. Fed by the abundant nourishment in the seed-leaves, it shoots up its stem and unfolds three or four leaves before the Maple (Fig. 28, 29) or the Morning-Glory (Fig. 20-22) would have made any. It is the same in the Chestnut and the Beech. In these, as in the Cherry and the Bean, the thick seed-leaves, which make the whole kernel, come up, turn green, and become thinner as they give up their load of nourishment to the growing parts; they evidently try to become useful green leaves ; but having been used for hold- ing nourishment, they remain too thick’and clumsy for foli- age, and they soon die or fall off. But in 43. The Horsechestnut, the Acorn, and the Pea, the seed- leaves are so very thick, and so heavily loaded, that they never undertake to serve any other purpose than that of feeding the other parts as they grow. So they remain in the shell or husk; and, as they are not to rise out of the ground, there is no need for their stemlet, or radicle, to lengthen, except enough to get 20 HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED. out of the seed, and let the root form from the lower end of it, while the plumule develops from its upper end directly into a strong leafy stem. Fig. 40 is an acorn cut through lengthwise. The whole kernel consists of a pair of very thick seed- leaves, loaded with starch, &c., and completely enclosing the very small and short stemlet, or radicle, seen at the bottom. Fig. 41 is the acorn with the seedling Oak growing from it ; the seed-leaves remaining in the shell, but feeding the strong root which grows downwards and the stem which shoots so vigorously upwards. 44, Acorns and horsechestnuts may not always be found germinating; but in the Pea we have a familiar case of this way of growing, which may be observed at any season by planting a few peas. Fig. 42 is a pea with the seed-coat taken off, after soaking. Here the seed-leaves are so thick that the pair makes a little ball; and the stout radicle or stemlet appears on the side turned to the eye. Fig. 43 shows the plantlet growing. The whole seed remains in the soil; the plumule, well nourished by the great stock of food in the buried seed-leaves, alone rises out of the ground as a strong shoot, bearing an imperfect scale-like leaf upon each of its earlier joints, and then producing the real leaves of the plant, while the radicle at the same time, without lengthening itself, sends down three or four roots at once. So the whole plant is quickly established, and all the early growth is made out of food provided for it the year before by the mother plant, and stored up in the seed. One more illustration we may take from 45. Indian Comm. Here the food provided for the early growth is laid up partly in the embryo, but mostly around it. Fig. 44 is a grain cut through flat-wise; Fig. 45, another cut through the middle across its thickness ; and Fig. 46, the embryo, or germ, of another grain, taken out whole, — which may readily be done in green corn, or in an old grain after soaking it for some time in warm water. The separate embryo is placed to match that which is seen, divided, in the seed; ~ is the radicle ; p, the plumule ; and ¢, the seed-leaf or cotyledon, which in this plant is single ; while in all the foregoing there was a pair of seed-leaves. The greater part of the grain is the meal, or albumen, the stock of nourish- ment outside of the embryo. In germinating, this meal is slowly changed HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED. 21 into sugar, and dissolved in the water which is absorbed from the ground; the coty- ledon imbibes this, and sends it into the radicle, 7, to make the root, and into the plumule, p, enabling it to develop the set of leaves, wrapped up one within another, of which it consists,” and expand them one after another in the air. Fig. 47 shows a sprouting grain, sending down its first root, and sending up the plumule still rolled together. Fig. 48 is the same, more advanced, having made a whole cluster of roots, and unfolded two or three leaves. Nourished abundantly as it is, both by the maternal stock in the grain, and by what these roots and leayes obtain and prepare from the soil and the air, the young corn gets a good start, is ready to avail itself of the summer’s heat, to complete its vegeta- tion, to blossom, and to make and lay up the great amount of nourishment which we gather in the crop. 46. The Onion, The cotyledon in Indian Corn, and most other plants which have only one, stays under ground. In the Onion it comes up and makes the first leaf, —a slender, thread-shaped one,— and in- deed it carries up the light seed on its summit. In Indian Corn, all the early joints of stem remain so short as not to be seen; although later it makes long joints, carrying up the upper leaves to some distance from one another. In the Onion, on the contrary, the stem never lengthens at all, but remains as a thin plate, broader than it is long, with the roots springing from one side of it and the sheathing bases of the leaves covering it on the other. 47. Number of Cotyledons or Seed-Leaves. Indian Corn (Fig. 46) and all such kinds of grain-plants, the Onion, Lilies, and the like, have only one seed-leaf or cotyledon to their embryo ; therefore they are called MonocotyLeponous PLants, and the embryo is called monocotylédonous,—a long word, meaning “with one cotyledon.” 48. The embryo of the Morning-Glory (Fig. 19), of the Maple (Fig. 27), Bean (Fig. 32-34), Almond, Peach, and Cherry (Fig. 86-38), Oak (Fig. 40), 22 HOW PLANTS GROW £ROM THE SEED. Pea (Fig. 42), and of all such plants, is dicotylédonous, that is, has a pair of cotyledons, or seed-leaves, which is what the word means. Therefore ali such plants are called DicotyLeponous Pants. 49, Pine-trees, and plants like them, generally have more than two cotyledons, in a circle; so their embryo is said to be poly- cotylédonous ; meaning “ with several or many cotyledons.” Fig, 49 is a magnified view of a Pine-seed, divided lengthwise, and showing the long and straight embryo lying in the middle of the albumen. The slender lower part is the radicle or stemlet; the upper part is a cluster of cotyledons or seed-leaves, in a close bundle; three of them can be seen as it lies, and there are as many more behind. Fig. 50 is this embryo as it comes up from the seed, its cotyledons (six in number) expanding at once into a circle of slender, needle-shaped leaves. 50. It is a pity these three words are so long; for the pupil should fix them thoroughly in his memory; because these differ- ences in the embryo, or plantlet in the seed, run through the whole life of the plant, and show themselves in many other differences which very strikingly distinguish one class of plants from another. Let it be re- membered, therefore, that Monocotyledonous Plants, or Monocotyledons, are those which have only one cotyledon or seed-leaf to their embryo. Dicotyledonous Plants, or Dicotyledons, are those which have a pair of cotyledons or seed-leaves to their embryo. Polycotyledonous Plants, or Polycotyledons, are those which have more than one pair of cotyledons or seed-leaves to their embryo. Analysis of the Section. 24, Flowers produce Fruit; this, the Seed; of this the essential part is the Embryo which grows. 25. It is alive; but lies dormant awhile. How long seeds may live. 26. Germination, the beginning of growth; what is needful for it. 27. What takes place, illustrated from the Morning-Glory. 28. How the stemlet grows by lengthening, and carries up the seed-leaves: how the root is formed and grows downwards. 29. Instinct of each part to turn in its proper direc- tion; and why. 30. The little seedling a complete plant in miniature; its parts. 31. How it goes on to grow: growth of the root; rootlets; of the stem. The Plumule or Bud. Development of the stem piece by piece, each with its leaf. 32. How the seedling is nourished at the beginning. Growth requires food. 83. How this is sup- plied by a deposit in the seed; Albumen. 34. It is kept in a solid form until the embryo starts, and is HOW PLANTS GROW YEAR AFTER YEAR. 23 then dissolved, turned into sugar, &c., and feeds the plantlet. 35. This illustrated in Wheat and Indian Corn. 36. Or else the same nourishment is deposited in the embryo itself, in its seed-leaves; illustrated by the Maple. 87, 88. Variations of the same plan of growth in different plants. The Maple compared with the Morning-Glory. 89-45. A great abundance of food stored up in the embryo causes a rapid and strong growth; illustrated by the Bean; 42. by the Cherry, Almond, &c.; 43,44. by the Horsechestnut, Acorn, Pea, &c.; in these the seed-leaves do not come up in germinating; why. 45. In Indian Corn; the stock of food partly in the strong embryo, partly outside of it. 46. The Onion; its seed-leaf lengthens and comes up, but the stem never lengthens at all. 47. Number of cotyledons or seed-leaves in different kinds of plants; Monocotyledonous. 48. Dico- tyledonous ; Polycotyledonous. 50. These differences always accompany other differences in the plant; Monocotyledonous, Dicotyledonous, and Polycotyledonous Plants. Sectioy II].— How Plants grow Year after Year. 51. They Grow on as they Began. ‘The seedling has all the organs that any plant has, — even the largest and oldest, — excepting what belongs to blossoms: it has all it needs for its life and growth, that is, for vegetation. It has only to go on and produce more of what it already has,— more roots beneath to draw up more moisture from the soil, and more stem above, bearing more leaves, exposing a larger surface to the light and air, in which to digest what is taken in from the soil and the air, and turn it into real nourishment, that is, into the stuff which vege- tables are made of. So, as fast as a young plant makes new vegetable material, it uses it for its growth; it adds to its root below, and to its stem above, and unfolds a new leaf or pair of leaves on every joint. Each joint of stem soon gets its full length, and its leaf or pair of leaves the full size; and now, instead of growing, they work, or prepare nourishment, for the growth of the younger parts forming above. 52. Simple Stems. In this way, piece by piece, the stem is carried up higher and higher, and its leaves increased in number; and the more it grows, the more it is able to grow, —as we see in a young seedling, beginning feebly and growing slowly for a while, but pushing on more and more vigorously in proportion to the number of leaves and roots it has produced. In this way, by developing joint after joint, each from the summit of its predecessor, a Simple Stem is made. Many plants make only simple stems, at least until they blossom, or for the first year. The Lilies, figured on the first page, and corn-stalks, are of this kind. Fig. 51 is a sort of diagram of the simple stem of Indian Corn, divided into its component pieces, to show how it consists of a set of similar growths, each from the summit 24 HOW PLANTS GROW YEAR AFTLR YEAR. of the preceding one. There are old trees even, which consist of a simple, un- branched stem. Palm-trees, such as our Southern Palmetto (Fig. 79) are of this kind. But more commonly, as stems grow they multiply them- selves by forming Vv 53. Branches, or side-shoots. These are formed both by roots and by stems. Roots generally branch much sooner than stems do. See Fig. 4, 20, 80, &e. 54. Roots send off their branches from any part of the main root, or start from any part of a stem lying on or in the soil; and they have no particular arrangement. 55. But the branches of stems spring only from particular places, and are arranged on a regular plan. They arise from the Axil of a leat and nowhere else, except in some few pe- t culiar cases. The axil (from a Latin word meaning the armpit) of a leaf is the hollow or angle, on the upper side, where the leaf is attached to the stem. As branches come only from the axils of leaves, and as leaves have a perfectly | regular and uniform arrangement in each particular plant, the places where branches will appear are fixed beforehand by the places of the leaves, and they must follow their arrangement. In the axils, commonly one in each, branches first appear in the form of 56. Buds. A Bud is an undeveloped stem or branch. If large enough to have its parts distinguishable, these are seen to be undeveloped or forming leaves; and large buds which are to stand over winter are generally covered with protect- ing scales, — a kind of dry, diminished leaves. 57. Terminal Bud. So the plumule or first shoot of the embryo (see Fig. 22, &e.) is a bud. But this first bud makes the main stem, and its growth, week after week, or year after year, carries on the main stem. Palms (as Fig. 79) grow in this way, by this bud only. Being always on the end of the stem, that is, terminating the stem, it is called the Terminal Bud. 58. Axillary Buds, But the buds which are to form branches appear on the sides of the stem; and since they are situated in the axils of the leaves, as just ex- r 61 THE ARRANGEMENT OF BRANCHES. 25 plained (55), they are named Axillary Buds. (See Fig.:52, 53.) These buds grow into branches, just as the first or terminal bud of the seedling grows to make the main stem. 59. The Arrangement of Branches, therefore, follows that of the axillary buds, and this that of the leaves. Now leaves are placed on the stem in two principal ways; they are either alternate or opposite. They are al- ternate when they fol- low one after another, there being only one to each joint. of the stem, as in Morning- Glory (Fig. 4, all after the seed-leaves), and in the Linden or Bass- wood (Fig. 52), as well as the greater part of trees or plants. They are opposite when there are two leaves upon each joint of stem, as in Horsechest- nut, Lilac, and Maple (Fig. 31, 53); one leaf in such cases being always exactly on the opposite side of the stem from its fellow. Now in the axil of almost every leaf of these trees a bud is soon formed, and in general plainly shows itself before summer is over. In Fig. 52, a, a, a, a, are the axillary buds on a twig of Bass- wood, — they are alternate, like the leaves, —and ¢ is the terminal bud. Fig. 53, a twig of Red Maple, has its axillary buds opposite, like the leaves; and on the very summit is the terminal bud. Next spring or sooner, the former grow into al- ternate branches ; the latter grow into opposite branches. These branches in their turn form buds in the axils of their leaves, to grow in time into a new generation of similar branches, and so on, year after year. So the reason is plain why the branching or spray of one tree or bush differs from that of another, each having its own plan, depending upon the way the leaves are arranged on the stem. 60. The spray (or ramification) of trees and shrubs is more noticeable in winter, 26 HOW PLANTS GROW YEAR AFTER YEAR. when most leaves have fallen. Even then we can tell how the leaves were placed, as well as in summer. We have only to notice the leaf-scars: for each fallen leaf has left a sear to mark where its stalk separated from the stem. And in most cases the bud above each scar is now apparent or conspicuous, ready to grow into branches in the spring, and showing plainly the arrangement which these are to have. Here, for instance, is a last year’s shoot of Horsechestnut (Fig. 54), with a large terminal bud on its summit, and with very conspicuous leaf-scars, Z s ; and just above each is an axillary bud, 6. Here the leaves were opposite each other; so the buds are also, and so will the branches be, unless one of the buds on each joint should fail. Fig. 55 is a similar shoot of a Hickory, with its leaf-scars (2s) and axillary buds (6) alternate, that is, single on the joints and one after another on different sides of the stem; and these buds when they grow will make alternate branches. 61. The branching would be more regular than it is, if all the buds grew. But there is not room for all; so only the stronger ones grow. ‘The rest stand ready to take their place, if those happen to be killed. Sometimes there are more buds than one from the same axil. There are three placed side by side on those shoots of Red Maple which are going to blossom. There are several in a row, one above another, on some shoots of Tartarean Honeysuckle. 62. The appearance of plants, the amount of their branching, and the way in which they continue to grow, depend very much upon their character and duration. 63. The Duration of Plants of different kinds varies greatly. Some live only for a few months or a few weeks; others may endure for more than a thousand years. The most familiar division of plants according to their duration and character is into Herbs, Shrubs, and Trees. 64. Tlerbs are plants of soft texture, having little wood in their stems, and in our climate dying down to the ground, or else dying root and all, in or before winter. 65. Shrubs are plants with woody stems, which endure and grow year after year, but do not rise to any great height, say to not more than four or five times the MODE OF LIFE IN ANNUALS AND BIENNIALS. 27 height of a man. And if they reach this size, it is not as a single main trunk, but by a cluster of stems all starting from the ground. 66. Trees are woody plants rising by a trunk to a greater height than shrubs. 67. Herbs are divided, according to their character and duration, into Annuals, Biennials, and Perennials. 68. Annuals grow from the seed, blossom, and die all in the same season. In this climate they generally spring from the seed in spring, and die in the autumn, or sooner if they have done blossoming and have ripened their seed. Oats, Barley, Mustard, and the common Morning-Glory (Fig. 4) are familiar annuals. Plants of this kind have fébrous roots, i. e. composed of long and slender threads or fibres. Either the whole root is a cluster of such fibres, as in Indian Corn (Fig. 48), Barley (Fig. 56), and all such plants; or when there is a main or tap root, as in Mustard, the Morning-Glory, &c., this branches off into slen- der fibres. It is these fibres, and the slender root-hairs which are found on them, that mainly absorb moisture and other things from the soil; and the more numerous they are, the more the plant can absorb by its roots. As fast as nourishment is received and pre- pared by the roots and leaves, it is expended in new growth, par- ticularly in new stems or branches and new leaves, and finally in flowers, fruit, and seed. The latter require a great deal of nour- ishment to bring them to perfection, and give nothing back to the plant in return. So blossoming and fruiting weaken the plant very much. Annual plants usually continue to bear flowers, often in great numbers, upon every branch, until they exhaust themselves and die, but not until they have ripened seeds, and stored up in them (as in the mealy part of the grain of Corn, &e., Fig. 44, 45) food enough for a new generation to begin growth with. 69. Biennials follow a somewhat different plan. These are herbs which do not blossom at all the first season, but live over the winter, flower the second year, and then die when they have ripened their seeds. The Turnip, Carrot, and Parsnip. the Beet, the Radish (Fig. 57), and the Celandine, are familiar examples of bien- nial plants. 70. The mode of life in biennials is to prepare and store up nourishment through the first season, and to expend it the next season in flowering and fruiting. Accord- ingly, biennials for the first year are nearly all root and leaves; these being the organs by which: the plant works, and prepares the materials it lives on. Stem Fibrous roots. 28 HOW PLANTS GROW YEAR AFTER YEAR. they must have, in order to bear leaves; for leaves do not grow on roots. But what stem they make is so very short-jointed that it rises hardly any; so that the leaves seem to spring from the top of the root, and all spread out in a cluster close to the ground. As the plant grows, it merely sends out more and more branches of the root into the soil beneath, and adds more leaves to the cluster just above, close to the surface of the warm ground, and wap exposed to the light and heat of the sun. Thus con&ting of its two working organs only, — root and leaves, — the young biennial sets vigorously to work. The moisture and air which the leaves take in from the atmosphere, and all that the roots take from the soil, are digested or changed into vegetable matter by the foliage while exposed to sunshine; and all that is not wanted by the leaves themselves is generally carried down into the body of the root and stored up there ‘for next year’s use. So the biennial root becomes large and heavy, being a storehouse of nourishing matter, which man and animals are glad to use for food., In,it, in the form of starch, sugar, mucilage, and in other nourishing and savory products, the plant (expending nothing in flowers or in show) has laid up the avails of its whole summer’s work. For what purpose? This plainly appRirg when the next. season’s growth begins. Then, fed by this great stock of nourishment, a stem shoots forth rapidly and strongly, divides into branches, bears flowers abundantly, and ripens seeds, almost wholly at the expense of the nourishment accumulated in the root, which is now light, empty, and dead; and so is the whole plant by the time the seeds are ripe. 4 71. By stopping the flowering, biennials can sometimes be made to live another year, or for many years, or annuals may be made into biennials. So a sort of biennial is made of wheat by sowing it in autumn, or even in the spring and keep- ing it fed down in summer. But here the nourishment is stored up in the leaves rather than in the roots. 72. The Cabbage is a familiar and more striking example of a biemial in which the store of nourishment, instead of being deposited in the root, is kept in the 57 Radish. MODE OF LIFE IN PERENNIALS. 29 leaves and in the short stem or stalk. These accordingly become thick and nutri- tious in the Cabbage, just as the root does in the Turnip, or the base of the short stem alone in Kohlrabi, or even the flower-stalks in the Cauliflower; all of which belong to the same family, and exhibit merely different ways of accom- plishing the same result. 73. Perennials are plants which live on year after year. Shrubs and trees are of course perennial. So are many herbs; but in these only a portion gener- ally survives. Most of our perennial herbs die down to the ground before winter ; in many species all but certain separate portions under ground die at the close of the year; but some parts of the stem con- taining buds are always kept alive to renew the growth for the next season. And a stock of nour- ishment to begin the new growth with is also pro- vided. Sometimes this stock is laid up in the roots, as for instance in the Peony, the Dahlia (Fig. 58), and the Sweet Potato. Here some thick roots, filled Dahlitcrodte: 59 Ground- Artichoke. with food made by last year’s vegetation, nourish in spring the buds on the base of the stem just above (a, a), enabling them to send up stout leafy stems, and send down new roots, in some of which a new stock of food is laid up during summer for the next spring, while the exhausted old ones die off; and so on, from year to year. 74. Sometimes this stock of food is laid up in par- ticular portions of branches of the stem itself, formed under ground, and which contain the buds; as in the d Ground Artichoke and the Potato. Here these parts, with their buds, or eyes, are all that live over winter. These thickened ends of stems are called Tudbers. In Fig. 59, @ is a tuber of last year, now exhausted and 30 HOW PLANTS GROW YEAR AFTER YEAR. withering away, which grew in spring by one of its buds to make the stem (4) bear- ing the foliage of the season. Potato. This sends out some branches under ground, which in the course of the sea- son thicken at the end as they receive a stock of nourishment prepared by this year’s foliage, and become new tubers (ce, a forming one; d, d, well-grown tubers of the season), to live over winter and make the next year’s growth. 75. Because they live under ground, these tu- bers are commonly sup- posed to be roots; but they are not, as any one may see. Their eyes are buds; and the little scales behind the eyes answer to leaves; while roots bear neither buds nor leaves. The fibrous roots which grow from these subterranean branches are very different in appearance from under-ground stems, as is plain to see in the Potato-plant. Fig. 60 shows a few of the real roots, as well as several branches of the stem, with potatoes form- ing in all stages at their tips. Fig. 61 is one of these form- ing potatoes magnified, show- ing a little scale behind each eye which answers to a leaf. 63 Solomon's-Seal. Fig. 62 is a part of a slice through an eye, more magnified, to show that the eye is really a bud, covered with little scales. MODE OF LIFE IN PERENNIALS. 31 76. In some perennial herbs, prostrate stems or branches under ground are thickened with this store of nourishment for their whole length, making stout 2ootstocks, as they are called; as in Sweet Flag, Solomon’s Seal (Fig. 63), and Iris, or Flower-de- Luce (Fig. 64). These are perennial, and grow on a little way each year, dying off as much behind after a while; and the newer parts every year send out a new set of fibrous roots. The buds which rootstalks produce, and the leaves or the scales they bear, or the scars or rings which mark where the old leaves or scales have fallen or decayed away, all plainly show that rootstocks are forms of stem, and not roots. The large round scars on the root- stock of Solomon’s Seal, which give the plant its name, (from their looking like impressions of a seal,) are the places from which ihe stalk bearing the leaves and flowers of each season has fallen off in autumn. Fig. 63, @ is the bud at the end, to make the growth above ground next spring; 6 is the bottom of the stalk of this season; ¢, the scar or place from which the stalk of last year fell; d, that of the year before; and e, that of two years ago. ( 77. Finally, the nourishment for the next , year’s growth may be deposited in the leaves ,\ themselves. Sometimes it occupies all the Sam 5 ! leaf, as in the Houseleek (Fig. 65) and other Iris. fleshy plants. ere the close ranks of the thickened leaves are wholly above ground. Sometimes the deposit is all in the lower end of the leaf, and on the ground, or un- derneath, as in common Bulbs. Take a White Lily of the gardens, for example, in the fall, or in spring before it sends up the stalk of the season (Fig. 66). From the A bottom of the bulb, roots descend into the Houseleek. soil to absorb moisture and other matters from it, while, above, it sends up leaves to digest and convert these matters into real nourishment. As fast as it is made, this nourishment is carried down to the bot- 3 32 HOW PLANTS GROW YEAR AFTER YEAR. tom of each leaf, which is enlarged or thickened for containing it. These thick leaf-bases, or scales, crowded together, make up the bulb; all but its very short stem, concealed within, which bears these scales above, and sends down the roots from underneath. ‘Fig. 67 shows one of the leaves of the season, taken off, with its base cut across, that the thickness may be seen. After having done its work, the blade dies off, leaving the thick base as a bulb-scale. Every year one or more buds in the centre of the bulb grow, feeding on the food laid up in the scales, and making the stalk of the season, which bears the flowers, as in Fig. 1, 2. 78. An Onion is like a Lily-bulb, only each scale or leaf-base is so wide that it enwraps all within, making coat after coat. 66 67 Bulb and lower Leaves of a Lily. Leaf, lower end cut off. 79. In shrubs and trees a great quantity of nourishment, made the summer. before, is stored up in the young wood and bark of the shoots, the trunk, and the roots. Upon this the buds feed the next spring; and this enables them to develop vigorously, and clothe the naked branches with foliage in a few days; or with blos- soms immediately following, as in the Horsechestnut; or with blossoms and foliage together, as in Sugar Maple; or with blossoms before the leaves appear, as in Red Maples and Elms. The rich mucilage of the bark of Slippery Elm, and the sweet spring sap of Maple-trees, belong to this store, deposited in the wood the previous summer, andein spring dissolved and rapidly drawn into the buds, to supply the early and sudden leafing and blossoming. 80. In considering plants, as to “how they grow,” it should be noticed that all of them, from the Lily of the field to the tree of the forest, teach the same lesson of industry and provident preparation. No great result is attained without effort, and WHY THEY GROW SO VIGOROUSLY IN SPRING. 33 long preceding labor. Not only was the tender verdure which, after a few spring showers and sunny days, is so suddenly spread out over field and forest, all pre- pared beforehand, — most of the leaves, even, made the summer before, and snugly. packed away in winter-buds,— but the nourishment which enables them to un- fold and grow so fast was also prepared for this purpose by the foliage of the year before, and laid up until it was wanted. The grain grows with vigor, because fed with the richest products of the mother plant, the results of a former year’s vegeta- tion. The Lily-blossom develops in all its glory without toil of its own, because all its materials were gathered from the earth and the air long before, by the roots and the leaves, manufactured by the latter into vegetable matter, and this stored up for a year or two under ground in the bottoms of the leaves (as starch, jelly, sugar, &c.), and in many cases actually made into blossoms in the dark earth, where the flower-buds lie slumbering in the protecting bulb through the cold winter, and in summer promptly unfold in beauty for our delight. Analysis of the Section. 51. The seedling is a complete plant on the simplest scale ; in growth it merely increases its parts, and multiplies them in number, as fast as it makes materials for growth. 62. Simple stems, how formed and carried up, piece by piece. 53, Branches: 64. of Roots, how they differ from those, 55. of Stems. Where these arise from; in what form they appear. 66. Buds, what they are. 57. Terminal Bud, what it makes. 68. Axillary Buds ; why so named ; what they make. 59. How branches are arranged, and what their arrangement depends upon: alternate; opposite. 60. The spray and buds of shrubs and trees in winter; Leaf-scars. 61. Why branches are not as regular and as many as the buds or leaves. 62, 63. The Duration and Character of Plants as affecting the way they grow. 64. Herbs. 65. Shrubs. 66. Trees. 67. Herbs are annuals, biennials, or perennials. 68. Annuals ; their mode of life ; character of their roots, intended only for absorbing; duration, &c. 69. Biennials ; how defined ; examples. 70. Character of their roots, and illustrations of their mode of life ; the first year, food made and stored up ; the second year, food expended, for what pur- pose. 71. How biennials may sometimes be made perennial, and annuals biennial. 72. The store of food may be kept in the leaves, or in the stems above ground ; Cabbage, &c. 73. Perennials ; what they are ; mode of life of perennial herbs from year to year ; accumulation of food in roots. 74. Accumulation of food in under-ground branches ; Tubers, as of Ground Artichoke. 75. Potato illustrated. 76. Accumulation in whole stems or branches under ground ; Rootstocks. 77. Accumulation of food in leaves, above ground, as in Houseleek ; or in the bottoms of leaves, usu- ally under ground ; Bulbs ; as of Lily, and, 78. of Onion. 79. Food, how stored up in shrubs and trees, and for what purpose ; used in leafing and blossoming in spring. 80. A lesson taught by vegetation. 34 HOW PLANTS GROW. Section IV. — Different Forms or Kinds of Roots, Stems, and Leaves. 81. The Organs of Vegetation, or those that have to do with the life and growth of a plant, are only three, Root, Stem, and Leaf. And the plan upon which plants are made is simple enough. So simple and so few are the kinds of parts that one would hardly expect plants to exhibit the almost endless and ever-pleasing diver- sity they do. This diversity is owing to the wonderful variety of forms under which, without losing their proper nature, each of these three organs may appear. 82. The study of the different shapes and appearances which the same organ takes in different plants, or in different parts of the same plant, comparing them with one another, is called Morphology, and is one of the most interesting parts of Botany. But in this book for young beginners, we have only room to notice the commonest forms, and those very briefly, — although sufficiently to enable stu- dents to study all common plants and understand botanical descriptions. Those who would learn more of the structure and morphology of plants should study the Lessons in Botany. § 1. Of Roots. 83. The Root is the simplest and least diversified of the three organs. Yet it exhibits some striking variations. 84. As to origin, there is the primary or original root, formed from the embryo as it grows from the seed, and the branches it makes. Annuals, biennials, and many trees are apt to have only such roots. But when any portion of their stems is covered by the soil, it makes secondary roots. These are roots which spring from the sides of the stem. Every one knows that most stems may be made to strike root when so covered and having the darkness and moisture which are gen- erally needful for roots. “Perennial herbs and most shrubs strike root naturally in this way under ground. All the roots of plants raised from tubers, rootstocks, and the like (74 —76), are of this sort, and also of plants raised from slips or cuttings. In warm and damp climates there are likewise many 85. Aerial Roots, namely, roots which strike from the stem in the open air. In . summer we often find them springing from the joints of the stalks of Indian Corn, several inches above the soil. Some of these reach the ground, and help to feed the plant. In the famous-Banyan-tree of India aerial roots on a larger scale strike from the spreading branches, high up in the air, grow down to the ground and into it, KINDS OF ROOTS. 35 and so make props or additional trunks. Growing in this way, there is no limit to the extent of the branches, and a single Banyan will spread over several acres of ground and have hundreds of trunks all made from aerial roots. 86. Aerial Rootlets, or such roots on a small scale, are produced by several woody vines to climb by. English Ivy, our Poison Ivy, and Trumpet-Creeper are well- known cases of the sort. 87. Air-Plants. Roots which never reach the ground are also produced by certain plants whose seeds, lodged upon the boughs or trunks of trees, high up in the air, grow there, and make an : Epiphyte, as it is called (from two Greek words meaning a plant on a plant), or an Air-Plant. The latter name refers to the plant’s getting its living altogether from the air; as it must, for it has no connection with the ground at any time. And if these plants can live on air, in this way, it is easy to understand that common vegetables get part of what they live on di- rectly from the air. In warm countries there are many very handsome and curious air- plants of the Orchis family. A great number are culti- vated in hot-houses, merely fixed upon pieces of wood ms and hung up. They take no Air-plants of the Orchis family, a i )) Se | ie” % , att RS KE nourishment from the boughs of the tree they happen to grow upon. 88. Parasitic Plants are those which strike their roots, or what answer to roots, into the bark or wood of the species they grow on, and feed upon its sap. ‘he Mistletoe is a woody parasitic plant, which engrafts itself when it springs from the seed upon the branches of Oaks, Hickories, or other trees. The Dodder is a com- 36 HOW PLANTS GROW. mon parasitic herb, consisting of orange-color or whitish stems, looking like threads of yarn. These coil round the stalks of other plants, fasten themselves by little suckers in place of roots, and feed upon their juices. Living as such a plant does by robbing cther plants of their prepared food, it has no leaves of its own, except little scales in their place, and has no need of any. 89. Shapes and Uses of Roots, Common roots, however, grow in the soil. And their use is to absorb moisture and other matters from the soil, and sometimes to hold prepared food until it is wanted for use, as was explained in the last section (70, 73). Those for absorbing are Fibrous roots, namely, slender and thread-shaped, as in Fig. 48, 56, and generally branching. Very slender roots of the sort, or their branches, are called ootlets ; and these do most of the absorbing. The roots of annuals are mostly fibrous, as they have nothing to do but to absorb; and so are the smaller branches of the roots of shrubs, trees, and other plants. Fleshy roots are those of herbs which form a thick and stout body, from having much nourishment deposited in them. They belong particularly to biennial herbs (69), and to many pe- rennials (73). Some sorts have names according to their shapes. The root is a : Tap-root, when of one main body, and tapering downwards to a point; as that of a Carrot (Fig. 71), and of a seedling Oak (Fig. 41). And a tap-root is Conical, when stout, and tapering gradually from the upper end to a point below ; as a carrot (Fig. 71), parsnip, or beet. Spindle-shaped, when thicker in the middle, and tapering upwards as well as downwards, like a radish (Fig. 57); and Turnip-shaped, or Napiform, when wider than long, or with a suddenly tapering tip, as a turnip (Fig. 70). Roots are 11. Carrot. Clustered or Fascicled when, instead of one main root, there are several or many of about the same size; as in Indian Corn (Fig. 48), and other grain (Fig. 56). Here the clustered roots are fibrous, being for absorbing only. When such roots, or some of them, are thick and fleshy, as they are when used as storehouses of food, they become Tuberous. The roots of the Dahlia, for in- stance (Fig. 58), are clustered and tuberous, or tuber-like. KINDS OF STEMS AND BRANCHES. 37 § 2. Of Stems. 90. Forms or Kinds of Stems. Differences in the size and consistence of stems, such as distinguish plants into herbs, shrubs, and trees, have already been noticed, in paragraphs 64, 65, and 66. A stem is Herbaceous, when it belongs to an herb, that is, has very little wood in its com- position, and does not live over winter above ground: Shrubby, when it belongs to a shrub, or is woody : Arboreous or Arborescent, when the plant is a tree, or like a tree; that is, when it is tall and grows by a single trunk. 91. The peculiar straw-stem of a grass or grain is named a Culm. It is gen- erally hollow, except at the joints, which are hard and solid; but in Indian Corn, Sugar-Cane, and some other Grasses, it is not at all hollow. 92. As to the mode of growth or the direction it takes in growing, the stem is Erect or Upright, when it grows directly upwards, or nearly so: Ascenaing, when it, rises upwards at first in a slanting direction: Declined or Recwned, when turned or bent over to one side: Decumbent, when the lower part reclines on the ground, as if too weak to stand, but the end turns upwards more or less: Procumbent or Trailing, when the whole stem trails along the ground: Prostrate, when it naturally lies flat on the ground: Creeping or Runnin, when a trailing or prostrate stem strikes root along its lower side, where it rests on the ground: Okimbing, where it rises by laying hold of other objects for support; either by tendrils, as in the Pea, Gourd, and Grape-Vine; or by twisting its leafstalks around the supporting body, as in the Virgin’s Bower; or by rootlets acting as holdfasts, as in the Ivy and Trumpet-Creeper (86) : Twining, when stems rise by coiling themselves spirally around any support, as in the Morning-Glory (Fig. 4), Hop, and Bean. 93. Several sorts of branches are different enough from the common to have particular names. Indeed, some are so different, that they would not be taken for branches without considerable study. Such, for instance, as 94. Thorns or Spines. Most of these are imperfect, leafless, hardened, stunted branches, tapering to a point. That they are branches is evident in the Hawthorn and similar trees, from their arising from the axil of leaves, as branches do. And on Pear-trees and Plum-trees many shoots may be found which begin as a leafy 88 HOW PLANTS GROW. branch, but taper off into a thorn. Prickles, such as those on the stems of Roses and Brambles, must not be confounded with thorns. These are growths from the bark (like hairs or bristles, only stouter), and peel off with it; while thorns are connected with the wood. 95. Tendrils, such as those of the Grape-Vine, Virginia Creeper (Fig. 72), and the Melon or Squash, are very slender, leafless branches, used to enable certain plants to climb. They grow out straight or nearly so until they reach some neighboring support, such as a stem, when the end hooks around it to secure a hold, and the whole ten- dril then shortens itself by coiling up spirally, so draw- * ing the growing Tendrils of Virginia Creeper. shoot nearer to the supporting object. When the Virginia Creeper climbs the side of a building, the face of a rock, or the smooth bark of a tree, which the tendrils cannot lay hold of in the usual way, their tips expand into a flat plate (as shown in Fig. 73, the ends of a tendril magnified), which adheres very firmly to the surface. This enables the plant to climb up a smooth surface by tendrils, just as the Ivy and Trumpet-Creeper climb by rootlets (86). ‘96. Pedancles or Flower-stalks are a kind of branches, or stems, as is clear from their situation. They are either a continuation of the stem, as in the Lily of the Valley and the Chalcedonian Lily, represented on the first page; or else they rise out of the axil of a leaf, as in the Morning-Glory (Fig. 4). Plainly, whatever comes from the axil of a leaf must be of the nature of a branch. So 97. Buds, that is axillary"buds, are undeveloped branches, as already explained in paragraphs 55 to 68. 98. The following kinds of branches are all connected with the ground in some way, and most of them act in such a way as to make new plants. KINDS OF STEMS AND BRANCHES. 389 99. A Stolon is a branch which reclines on the ground, or bends over to it, and strikes root (Fig. 74). Currant-bushes spread naturally by stolons, and so does White Clover. The gardener imitates the process where it does not naturally occur, or facilitates it where it does, by bending branches to the ground, and pinning them down, when they strike root where they are covered by the soil, and then the branch, having leaves and roots of its own, may be separated as an independent plant. In this way the gardener multiplies many plants by layering which he cannot so readily propagate by seed. Runner. 74 Sucker. Stolon. 100. A Runner (Fig. 74) is a very slender, thread-like, leafless stolor, much like a tendril, lying on the ground, and rooting and budding at the point; so giving rise to a new plant at some distance from the parent, and connected with it during the first year. But the runner dies in winter and leaves the young plant inuependent. The Strawberry-plant affords the most familiar illustration of runners. Lach plant or offshoot, as soon as established, sends out runners of its own, which make new plants at their tip. In this way a single Strawberry-plant produces a numerous progeny in the course of the summer, and establishes them at convenient iis. tances all around. 101. A Sucker (Fig. 74) is a branch which springs from a parent stem under ground, where it makes roots of its own, while farther on it rises above ground into a leafy stem, and becomes an independent plant whenever the connection with the parent stem dies or is cut off. It is by suckers that Rose and Raspberry bushes multiply and spread so “by the rooi,” as is generally said. But that these subter- ranean shoots are stems, and not roots (though they produce roots), will plainly appear by uncovering them. 102. An Offset is a short branch, next the ground or below its surface, like a short stolon or sucker, bearing a tuft of leaves at the end, and taking root where this 40 HOW PLANTS GROW. rests on the soil; as in the Houseleek (Fig. 65), where one plant will soon produce a cluster of young plants or offsets all around it. 103. A Rootstock is any kind of horizontal stem or branch growing under ground. Slender rootstocks occur in the subterranean part of the suckers of Roses, of Pepper- mint, or of Canada Thistle, and of Quick-Grass or Couch-Grass (Fig. 75), which spreads so widely, and becomes so troublesome to farmers. They are well distinguished from roots by the leaves which they bear at every joint, in the form of séales, and by the buds which they produce, one in the axil of each scale. These buds, which are very tenacious of life, are what renders the plant so exceedingly difficult to destroy. For ploughing and hocing only cut up the rootstock into pieces, each with a tuft of roots ready formed and with a bud to each joint, all the more ready to grow for the division. So that the attempt to destroy Quick-Grass by cut- ting it up ‘by the roots (as these shoots a are called), unless the Rootstock of Quick-grass. pieces are carefully taken out of the soil, is apt to produce many active plants in place of one. 104. Thickcned or fleshy rootstocks, such as those of Solomon’s Seal (Fig. 63) and Iris (Fig. 64), have already been illustrated (76). 105. A Tuber is a rootstock thickened at the end, as already explained in the Potato and Ground Artichoke (74, 75, Fig. 59, 60). The eyes of a tuber are lively buds, well supplied with nourishment for their growth. 106. A Corm or Solid Bulb, as of Gladiolus and Crocus (Fig. 76), is a sort of rounded tuber. If well covered with thick scales it would become 107. A Bulb. ‘This is a (mostly subterranean) stem, so short as to be only a flat plate, producing roots from its lower surface and above covered with thickened scales, — as was fully explained in the last section (77). a 108. Bulbs are scaly, as in the Lily (Fig. 66), when the — “orm of Crevus, with bude. scales are narrow ; or coated, a3 an onion, when the scales enwrap each other, and form coats. INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF STEMS. 41 109. Bulblets are little bulbs, or fleshy buds, formed in the axils of leaves above ground, as in the Bulb-bearing Lily. Or in some Leeks and Onions they take the place of flower-buds. Falling off, they take root and grow into new plants. 110. The Internal Structure of Stems. Plants are composed of two kinds of ma- terial, namely, Cellular Tissue and Wood. The former makes the softer, fleshy, and pithy parts; the latter forms the harder, fibrous, or woody parts. The stems of herbs contain little wood, and much cellular tissue; those of shrubs and trees abound in the woody part. 111. There are two great classes of stems, which differ in the way the woody part is arranged in the cellular tissue. They are named the Exdgenous, and the Endégenous. 112. For examples of the first class we may take a Bean-stalk, a stem of Flax, Sunflower, or the like, among herbs, and for woody stems any common stick of wood. For examples of the second class take an Asparagus-shoot or a Corn- stalk, and in trees a Palm-stem. These names express the different ways in which the two kinds grow in thickness when they live more than one year. But the difference between the two is almost as apparent the first year, and in the stems of herbs, which last only one year. 113. The Endogenous Stem. Lndégenous means “ inside- growing.” Fig. 77 shows an Endogenous stem in a Corn- stalk, both in a cross-section, at the top, and also split down lengthwise. The peculiarity is that the wood is all in separate threads or bundles of fibres running lengthwise, and scattered among the cellular tissue throughout the whole thickness of the stem.. On the cross-section their cut ends appear as so many dots; in the slice lengthwise they show themselves to be threads or fibres of wood. Fig. 73 is a similar view of a Palm-stem (namely, of our Carolina Palmetto, of which whole trees are represented in Fig. 79). It shows the endogenous plan in a stem several years old. Here the bundles of wood are merely increased very much in number, new threads having been formed throughout intermixed with the old, and any in- crease in diameter that has taken place is from a general distention or enlargement 72 Endogenous Stems. 42 HOW PLANTS GROW. of the whole. Such stems may well enough be called inside-growers, because their wood increases in amount, as they grow older, by the formation of new threads or fibres of wood within or among the old. 114. Moreover, endogenous stems are apt to make few or no branch- es. Asparagus is the only common example to the contrary ; that branches freely. But the stalks of Corn and other grain, and those of Lilies (Fig. 1, 2) and the like, seldom branch until they come to flower ; and Palms are trees of this sort, with perfectly simple or branchless trunks, rising like col- umns, and crowned with a tuft of . conspicuous and peculiar foliage, which all comes from the continued growth of a terminal bud. 115. The Exogenous Stem is the kind we are familiar with in ordi- nary wood. But it may be observed in the greater part of our herbs as well. It differs from the other class, even at the be- ginning, by the wood all occupying a certain part of the stem, and by its woody bundles soon appearing to run together into a solid Palmettos of various ages, and a Yucca, y. layer. This layer of wood, whether much or little, is always situated around a central part, or pith, which has no wood in it, being pure cellular tissue, and is itself surrounded by a bark which is mainly or at first entirely cellular tissue. So that a slice across an exoge- nous stem always has a separate cellular part, as bark, on the circumference, then a ring of wood, and in the centre a pith; as is seen in Fig, 80, representing a piece KINDS AND FORMS OF LEAVES. 43 of Flax-stem magnified; and also in Fig. 81, which shows the same structure in a woody stem, namely, in a shoot of Maple of a year old, cut both crosswise and lengthwise. 116. The difference becomes still more marked in stems more than one year old. During the second year a new layer of wood is formed outside of the first one, between it and the bark; the third year, another layer outside cf the second, and so on, a new layer being formed each year outside of that of the year before. The increase is all on the surface, and buries the older wood deeper and deeper in the trunk. For this reason such stems are said to be exdgenous or outside-growing (from two Greek words which mean just this), a new layer being added to the wood on the outside each year as long as the tree or shrub lives. And so the oldest wood, or Heart-wood, is always in the centre, and the newest and freshest, the Sap-wood, at the circumference, just beneath the bark. 117. The heart-wood is dead, or soon becomes so. The sap-wood is the only active part ; and this, with the inner bark, which is renewed from its inner face every year, is all of the trunk that is concerned in the life and growth of the tree. 118. Plants with exogenous or outside-growing stems, especially those that live year after year, almost always branch freely. All common shrubs and trees of the exogenous class make a new set of branches every year, and so present an ap- pearance very different from that of most of those of the endogenous or inside- growing class. Exogenous Stems. § 8. Of Leaves. 119. Leaves exhibit an almost endless variety of forms in different plants; and their forms afford easy marks for distinguishing one species from another. So the different shapes of leaves are classified and named very particularly, — which is a great convenience in describing plants, as it enables a botanist to give a correct idea of almost any leaf in one or two words. We proceed to notice some of the principal kinds. 120. Their Parts. A leaf with all its parts complete has a Blade, a Footstalk, and a pair of Stipules at the base of the. footstalk. Fig. 82 shows all three parts 44 HOW PLANTS GROW. in a Quince-leaf: 6, the blade; y, the footstalk ; and st, the stipules, looking like a pair of little blades, one on each side of the stalk. But many leaves have no stipules ; many have no footstalk, and then the blade sits directly on the stem (or is sessile), as in Fig. 138. Some leaves even have no blade; but this is uncommon; for in foliage the blade is the essential part. There- fore, in describing the shape of leaves, it is always the blade that is meant, unless something is said to the contrary. 121. Leaves are either simple or compound. They are simple when the blade is all of one piece; com- pound, when of more than one piece or blade. Fig. 128 to 152, and 133, are examples of compound leaves, the latter very compound, having as many as eighty- one little blades. 122. Their Structure and Veining, ‘Leaves are com- posed of the same two kinds of material as stems (110), namely, of wood or fibre, and of cellular tissue. The woody or fibrous part makes a framework of ribs and veins, which gives the leaf more strength and toughness than it would otherwise have. The cellu- lar tissue forms the green pulp of the leaf. This is spread, as it were, over the framework, both above and below, and supported by it; and the whole is protected by a transparent skin, which is termed the Zpidermis. 123. Ribs. The stouter pieces or timbers of the framework are called ids. In the leaf of the Quince (Fig. 82), Pear, Oak (Fig. 120), &c. there is only a single main rib, running directly through the middle of the blade from base to point ; this is called the Midrib. But in the Mallow, the Linden (Fig. 83), the Maple (Fig. 84), and many others, there are three, or five, or seven ribs of nearly the same size. The branches of the ribs and the branchlets from them are called 124. Veins and Veinlets. The former is the general name for them; but the finest branches are particularly called Veinlets. Straight and ‘parallel veins or fine ribs, like those of Indian Corn, or of any Grass-leaf, or of the Lily of the Valley (Fig. 8, 85), are called Nerves. This is not a sensible name, for even if in some degree like the nerves of animals in shape, they are not in the least like them in use. KINPS AND FORMS OF LEAVES. 45 Nor are what we call veins to be likened particularly to the bloodvessels of ani- mals. But this name is not so bad; for the minute fibres which, united in bun- dies, make up the ribs and veins, are hollow tubes, and serve more or less for con- veying the sap. 125. As to the veining, or the arrangement of the framework in the blade, leaves are divided into two classes, viz.: 1st, the Wetted-veined or Reticulated, and, 2d, the Parallel-veined or Nerved. 126. Netted-Veined or Reticulated leaves are those in which the veins branch off from the rib or ribs, and divide again and again, and some of the veins and veinlets run into one another, so forming reticulations or meshes of network throughout the leaf. This is shown in the Quince-leaf (Fig. 82) ; also in the Linden or Basswood (Fig. 83), and the Maple (Fig. 84), where the finer meshes appear in one or two of the leaves. 127. Netted-veined leaves belong to plants which have a pair of seed-leaves to their em- SA ee bryo (48), and stems 83, Linden. 84. Mayle, of the exogenous structure (115). That is, these three kinds of structure, in em- bryo, stem, and leaf, generally go together. 128. Parallel-veined or Nerved leaves are those in which the ribs and veins run side by side without branching (or with minute cross-veinlets, if any) from the base to the point of the blade, as in Indian-Corn, Lily of the Valley (Fig. 85), &c., or sometimes from the midrib to the margins, as in the Banana and Calla (Fig. 86). Such parallel veins have been called Werves, as just explained (124). Leaves of this sort belong to plants with one cotyledon to their embryo (47), and with endogenous stems (113). 46 HOW PLANTS GROW. 129. Parallel-veined leaves, we see, are of two sorts; — 1. those with the veins or nerves all running from the base of the leaf to the point (Fig. 85); and, 2. those where they mostly run from the midrib to the margin, as in Fig. 86. Metted-veined leaves likewise are of two sorts, the Feather-veined and the Radvate-veined. 180. Feather-veined (al- so called pinnately veined) leaves are those in which the main veins all spring from the two sides of one rib, viz. the midrib, like the plume of a feather from each side of the shaft. Fig- ures 82, 88-97, 120, 122, &c. represent feather-veined leaves. 131. Radiate-Veined (al- so called palmately veined) leaves are those which have three or more main ribs ris- ing at once from the place where the footstalk joins the blade, and commonly diverg- Rarallel-yeined Leaves, ing, like rays from a centre ; the veins branching off from these. Of this sort are the leaves of the Maple (Fig. 84), Mallow, Currant, Grape-Vine, and less dis- tinctly of the Linden (Fig. 83). Such leaves are generally roundish in shape. It is evident that this kind of veining is adapted to round leaves, and the other kind for those longer than wide. , 132. Shapes of Leaves. As to general shape, the following are the names of the principal sorts. (It will be a good exercise for students to look up examples which fit the definitions.) Linear ; narrow, several times longer than wide, and of about the same width throughout, as in Fig, 87. Lance-shaped or Lanceolate ; narrow, much longer than wide, and tapering up- wards, or both upwards and downwards, as in Fig. 88. Oblong ; two or three times longer than broad, as in Fig. 89. KINDS AND FORMS OF LEAVES. 47 Oval ; broader than oblong, and with a flowing outline, as in Fig. 90. Ovate ; oval, but broader towards the lower end; of the shape of a hen’s egg cut through lengthwise, as in Fig. 91. Orbicular or Round ; circular or nearly circular in outline, as in Fig. 93. NWORe Linear. Lance- Oblong. Ovate. Heart- peneped: Orbicular. shaped. 93 133. Some leaves taper downwards more than upwards. Of these the.common- 94 est forms are the Oblanceolate, or Inversely lance-shaped ; that is, shaped like a lance with the point downwards, as in Fig. 94. Spatulate ; roundish above, and tapering is x v into a long and narrow base, like the old form of the apothecary’s spatula, Fig. 95. Obovate, or Inversely ovate; that is, ovate with the narrow end at the bottom of the leaf, as in Fig. 96. Cuneate or Wedge-shaped ; like the last, ecu x 7 5 Oblanceo- Spatnlate. Obovate. Cuneate or but with the sides narrowing straight down bate. Wedge-shaped. to the lower end, in the shape of a wedge, as in Fig. 97. 184. Of course these shapes all run into one another by imperceptible degrees in different cases. The botanist merely gives names to the principal grades. Inter- mediate shapes are described by combining the names of the two shapes the leaf in question most resembles. For example : — Lance-linear, or linear-lanceolate, means between linear and lance-shaped. Lance-oblong, or oblong-lanceolate, means between oblong and lanceolate in shape. Ovate-lanceolate, between ovate and lance-shaped ; and so on. 135. Or else a qualifying word may be used, as somewhat ovate, slightly heart- shaped, and the like. Thus, Fig. 92 is ovate in general form, but with the base a little notched, i. e. ee ose It is one of the kinds which depend upon 48 HOW PLANTS GROW. 136. The shape at the base. This is concerned in all the following sorts : — Heart-shaped, or Cordate; when of the shape in which a heart is painted, the base having a recess or notch, as in Fig. 98. Kidney-shaped, or Reniform ; like heart-shapéd, but rounder, and broader than long, as in Fig. 99. Auricled, or Eored ; having a small projection or /obe on each side at the base, like a pair of ears, as in Fig. 101. Arrow-shaped, or Arrow-headed ; when such lobes at the base are 100 101 102 93° Heart-shaped, Kidney-shaped, Arrow-shaped. Auricled, Halberd-shaped, or cordate, or reniform, or eared. or hastate pointed and turned backwards, like the base of an arrow-head, as in Fig. 100. Halberd-shaped, or Hastate ; when such lobes point outwards, giving the whole blade the shape of the halberd of the olden time, as in Fig. 102. Shield-shaped, or Peltate; when the footstalk is attached to some part of the lower face of the blade, which may be likened to a shield borne by the hand with the arm extended. Fig. 104 represents the shield-shaped leaf of a Water-Penny- wort. Fig. 103 is the leaf of another species, which is not shield-shaped. A comparison of the two shows how the shield- 103 108 shaped leaf’ is made. 1387. As to the Apex or Point, we have the following terms, the first six of which apply to the base as well as to the apex of a leaf: — Pointed, Taper-pointed, or Acuminate ; narrowed into a tapering tip, as in Fig. 105. Acute ; ending in an acute angle, Fig. 106. Obtuse ; ending in an obtuse angle, or with a blunt or rounded apex; as in Fig. 107. Truncate ; as if cut off square at the apex, as in Fig. 108. Round-kidney- shaped. Shield-shaped. KINDS AND FORMS OF LEAVES. 49 Retuse ; having a blunt or rounded apex slightly indented, as in Fig. 109. Emarginate, or Notched ; as if a notch were cut out of the apex; Fig. 110. Obcordate, or Inversely heart-shaped ; that is, with the strong notch at the apex instead of the base, as in Fig. 111 and the leaflets of White Clover. Cuspidate ; tipped with a rigid or sharp and narrow point, as in Fig. 112. Mucronate ; abruptly tipped with a short and weak point, like a small projection of the midrib, as in Fig. 113. Awned, Awn-pointed, or Aristate ; tipped with a long bristle-shaped appendage, like the beard (awn) of Oats, &c. 109 = MP OBO Pointe. Acute. Obtuse. Truncate. Retuse. Notched, Obcordate. Cuspidate. Wastonales 188. As to the margin, whether whole, toothed, or cut, leaves are said to be Entire ; when the margin is an even line, as in Fig. 99 to 102. Toothed ; when beset with teeth or small indentations; of this there are two or three varieties, as, Serrate or Saw-toothed ; when the teeth turn’ forwards, like those of a saw, as in Fig. 114. Dentate ; when they point outward, as in Fig. 115. Crenate ; when scalloped in- to broad and rounded teeth, as | in Fig. 116, l Wavy (Repand or Undulate) ; \ when the margin bends slightly Y in and out, as in Fig. 117. ¥ ae Sinuate ; strongly wavy or = sinuous, as in Fig. 118. Incised or Jagged ; cut into deep and irregular, jagged teeth or incisions, as in Fig. 119. This leads to truly 139. Lobed or Cleft Leaves, &c.. those with the blade cut up, as it were, into parts, i. e. lobes or divisions. In a general way, such leaves are said to be lobed ; and the Serrate. Dentete. Crenate. ‘Sin Sinuate. Incised or Jagged. 50 HOW PLANTS GROW. number of projecting parts, or lobes, may be expressed by saying two-lobed, three- lobed (Fig. 121), &c., according to their number. Or, more particularly, a leat’ is Lobed ; when the pieces are roundish, or the incisions open or blunt, as in Fig. 120, 121; and Cleft; when cut about half-way down, with sharp and narrow incisions, as in Fig. 122, 123; and so two-cleft, three-cleft, five-cleft, &c., according to the number. Parted ; when the cutting extends almost through, as in Fig. 124,125. And we say two-parted, three-parted, &c., to express the number of the parts. Divided ; when the divisions go through to the base of the leaf (as in Fig. 127), or to the midrib (as in Fig. 126), which cuts up the blade into separate pieces, or nearly so. 122 124 Pinnately 121 123 125 127 Lohed. Cleft. Partede Divided. 140. As the cutting is always between the veins or ribs, and not across them, the arrangement of the lobes depends upon the kind of veining. Feather-veined leaves have the incisions all running in towards the midrib (as in the upper row of figures), because the principal veins all spring from the midrib; while radiate or palmately veined leaves have them all running towards the base of the blade, where the ribs all spring from the footstalk, as in the lower row of figures. So those of KINDS AND FORMS OF LEAVES, 51 the upper row are called pinnately lobed, cleft, parted, or divided, as the case may be, and those of the lower row palmately lobed, cleft, &c. The number of the lobes or pieces may also be expressed in the same phrase. Thus, Hepatica has a pal- mately three-lobed leaf (Fig. 121); the Red Maple a palmately five-cleft leaf (Fig. 84), and so on. 141. In this way almost everything about the shape and veining of a leaf may be told in very few words. How useful this is, will be seen when we come to study plants to find out their names by the descriptions. 142. All these terms apply as well to the lobes or parts of a leaf, when they are themselves toothed, or lobed, or cleft, &c. And they also apply to the parts of the flower, and to any flat body like a leaf. So that the language of Botany, which the student has to learn, does not require so very many technical words as is commonly supposed. 148. Compound Leaves (121) are those which have the blade cut up into two or more separate smaller blades. The separate blades or pieces of a compound leaf are called Leaflets. The leaflets are generally jointed with the main footstalk, just as that is jointed with the stem, and when the leaf dies the leaflets fall off separately. 144. There are two kinds of com- pound leaves, the pinnate and the palmate. 145. Pinnate leaves have their leaflets arranged along the sides of the main footstalk, as in Fig. 128, 129, 130. 146. Palmate (also called Digitate) leaves bear their leaflets all at the very end of the footstalk; as in Fig. 131. 147. There are several varieties of pinnate leaves. The principal sorts are: — Odd-pinnate. Pinnate with a teodril Abruptly pinnate. 52 HOW PLANTS GROW. Interruptedly pinnate, when some of the leaflets of the same leaf are much smaller than the rest, and placed between them, as in the Water Avens. Abruptly pinnate, when there is no odd leaflet at the end, as in Honey-Locust, Fig. 130. Odd-pinnate, when there is an odd leaflet at the end, as in the Common Locust (Fig. 128) and in the Ash. Pinnate with a tendril, when the footstalk is prolonged into a tendril, as in Fig. 129, and all of the Peatribe. | 148. Pinnate leaves may have many or few leaflets). The Bean has pinnate leaves of only 131. Palmate leaf, of 5 leaflets. three leaflets. 149. Palmate leaves generally have few leaflets; there is not room for many on the very end of the footstalk. Common Clover has a palmate leaf of three leaflets (Fig. 186); Virginia Creeper, one of five leaflets (Fig. 72), as well as the Buckeye (Fig. 181) ; while the Horsechestnut has seven, and some Lupines from eleven to seventeen. ‘we WN 150. Twice or Thrice Compound Leaves are not uncommon, both of the pinnate and of the palmate sorts. While some leaves of Honey-Locust are only once pinnate, as in Fig. 130, others are doubly or twice pinnate, as in Fig. 132. Those of many Acacias are thrice pinnate. Fig. 133 represents one of the root-leaves of Meadow-Rue, which is of the palmate kind, and its general footstalk is divided into threes for four times in suc- cession, making in all eighty-one leaflets ! When a leaf is divided three or four times, it is said to be decompound. This is ter- nately decompound, because it divides each time into threes. 132, A twice-pinnate leaf of Honey-Locuat KINDS AND FORMS OF LEAVES. 53 151. Leaves without Distinction of Footstalk and Blade, or with no very obvious distinction of parts. Of this kind, among several others, may be mentioned, — Needle - shaped leaves, such as those of Pine-trees and Larches (Fig. 134). These are long, slender, and rigid, and often with little if any distinc- tion of sides. Awl-shaped or Subulate leaves are those which from a broadish base ta- per into a sharp and rigid point, like 133 Ternately decomponnd, or four timescompound leaf. one sort of those of the Red Cedar and Arbor Vite (Fig. 135, those on the larger branchlets). Those on other branchlets, as at a, are shorter, blunt, and scale-shaped. Thread-shaped or SLiliform leaves ; round and stalk-like, as those of the Onion. Equitant leaves, like those of Iris (Fig. 64), which are folded together lengthwise, as may be seen at the base, where they override each other. They grow upright, with their faces looking horizontally, instead of having an upper and a lower surface, as most leaves do. Needle-shaped leaves of Larch. Awl-shaped leaves, &c. 54 HOW PLANTS GROW. 152. Stipules, as already explained (120), are a pair of appendages at the base of the leaf, one on each side. These often grow fast to the base of the leafstalk, as they do in the Rose and in Clover (Fig. 136; st, the stipules). Or they may join with each other and form a kind of sheath round the stem, as they do in the Buttonwood and in Polygonum (Fig. 137). Many leaves have no stipules at all. In many cases they fall off very early, especially those that serve for bud-scales, as in Magnolia. 153. The Arrangement of Leaves on the stem has already been explained as to the two principal ways (59). Leaves are either Alternate, when they follow each other one by one, as in the Morning-Glory (Fig. 4) and the Linden (Fig. 83); or Opposite, when in pairs, that is, two on each joint of stem, one opposite the other, as in Maples (Fig. 84). To these may be added a third, but less common arrangement, viz. the Whorled ; where there are three, four, or more leaves on 1374 Stipules united. the same joint of stem, forming Whorled leaves. a circle or whorl; as in Madder and Bedstraw (Fig. 137’). But this is only a variety of the opposite mode. Analysis of the Section. 81. Vegetation very simple in plan, very diversified in particulars. 82. The study of the forms of the organs is Morphology. 83-89. Roots, their forms and kinds. 84. Primary or original; secondary; how they originate. 85. Aerial roots. 86. Aerial rootlets. 87. Air-Plants; how they live. 88. Parasitic Plants, their economy. 89. Shapes of roots: fibrous; fleshy; the principal sorts. 90. Forms or kinds of stem; herbaceous, shrubby, arboreous. 91. Culm or straw-stem. 92. Direc- tions or positions of stems. 93. Peculiar sorts. 94. Thorns or Spines, how shown to be branches; ANALYSIS OF THE SECTION. 55 Prickles. 95. Tendrils. 96. Peduncles or Flower-stalks. 97. Buds. 98. Branches connected with the ground. 99. Stolons. 100. Runners. 101. Suckers. 102. Offsets. 103. Rootstocks. 104. Fleshy Rootstocks. 105. Tubers. 106. Corms. 107. Bulbs; 108. scaly and coated. 109. Bulblets. 110. Internal Structure of Stems; Cellular Tissue; Wood. 111. The two classes of stems. 112. Ex- amples, both in herbs and trees. 118. Endogenous stem; how its wood is arranged. 114. External appearance and growth. 115. Exogenous stem; common wood. 116. How it increases in diameter year after year: Sap-wood and Heart-wood. 117. The latter dead, the former annually renewed. 118. External appearance and mode of growth. 119. Leaves ; their varieties, why useful to learn. 120. Their parts: Blade, Footstalk, Stipules. 121. Simple and Compound. 122. Structure and Veining of leaves: woody or fibrous part; cellular tissue or green pulp ; Epidermis or Skin. 128. Ribs. 124. Veins and Veinlets; Nerves, so called. 125. Two kinds of veining. 126. Netted-veined or Reticulated. 127. Class of plants that have this kind of veining. 128. Parallel-veined or Nerved; class of plants that have this kind of veining. 129. Both kinds of two sorts. 130. Feather-veined or Pinnately veined. 131. Radiate-veined or Pal- mately veined. 132 Shapes of leaves enumerated; as to general outline. 133. Those that taper downward. 134, 135. Intermediate shapes, how expressed. 136. Shapes depending upon the base. 187. Forms of apex. 188. As to margin or toothing, &c. 189. Lobing or division. 140. How this is related to the veining; how both the kind of lobing and the number of parts may be expressed, 141, so that a short phrase will describe the leaf completely. 142. All the various terms apply as well to other parts, as to calyx, corolla, petals, &c. 143. Compound Leaves ; Leaflets. 144. The two kinds. 145. Pinnate leaves. 146. Palmate or Digitate. 147. Varieties of pinnate leaves. 148. Number of leaflets. 149. Also of palmate leaves ; why their leaflets are generally fewer than those of pinnate leaves. 150. Twice or thrice compound and decompound leaves. 151. Leaves without distinction of blade and footstalk ; Needle-shaped ; Thread-shaped ; Aw!- shaped; Equitant. 152. Stipules; often united with the footstalk, or with each other. 153, The arrangement of leaves on the stem: the three modes, viz. alternate, cpposite, whorled. CHAPTER LI. HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED OR MULTIPLIED IN NUMBERS, Section I.— How Propagated from Buds. 154. Pants not only grow so as to increase in size or extent, but also multiply, or increase their numbers. This they do at such a rate that almost any species, if favorably situated, and not interfered with by other plants or by animals, would soon cover the whole face of a country adapted to its life. 155. Plants multiply in two distinct ways, namely, by Buds and by Seeds. All plants propagate by seeds, or by what answer to seeds. Besides this, a great number of plants, mostly perennials, propagate naturally from buds. 156. And almost any kind of plant may be made to propagate from buds, by taking sufficient pains. The gardener multiplies plants artificially in this way, 157. By Layers and Slips or Cuttings. In laying or layering, the gardener bends a branch down to the ground,— sometimes cutting a notch at the bend, or remov- ing a ring of bark, to make it strike root the quicker, ——and covers it with earth; then, after it has rooted, he cuts off the connection with the parent stem. Thus he makes artificial stolons (99). Plants which strike root still more readily, such as Willows, he propagates by cuttings or slips, that is, by pieces of stem, containing one or more buds, thrust into the ground or into flower-pots. If kept moist and warm enough, they will generally strike root from the cut end in the ground, and develop a bud above, so forming a new plant out of a picce of an old one. Many woody plants, which will not so readily grow from slips, can often be multiplied 158. By Grafting or Budding. In grafting, the cutting is inserted into a stem or branch of another plant of the same species, or of some species like it, as of the, Pear into the Quince or Apple; where it grows and forms a branch of the stock* (as the stem used to graft on is called). The piece inserted is called a seton. In grafting shrubs and trees it is needful to make the inner bark and the edge of the wood of the scion correspond with these parts in the stock, when they will grow together, and become as completely united as a natural branch is with its parent stem. In budding or inoculating, a young bud, stripped from one fresh plant, is inserted under the bark of another, usually in summer; there it adheres and gen- HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED. 57 erally remains quiet, as it would have done on the parent bough, until the next spring, when it grows just as if it belonged there. 159. The object of all these ways of artificial propagation from buds is to pre- serve and to multiply choice varieties of a species which would not be perpetuated from seed. For as the fruit of all the natural branches is alike, so it remains essentially unaltered when borne by branches which are made to grow as artificial branches of another plant, or to take root in the ground as a separate plant. The seeds of an apple or other fruit cannot be depended upon to reproduce the very same sort of apple, — that is, an apple of the very same flavor or goodness. The seeds will always reproduce the same species, but not the individual peculiarities. These are perpetuated in propagation from buds. This kind of propagation is there- fore very important to the cultivator. It takes place naturally in many plants, 160. By Stolons, Offsets, Runners, or Suckers, in ways which have already been described (99 to 103, and Fig. 74). These are all forms of natural layering, and they must have taught the gardener his art in this respect. For he merely imitates Nature, or rather sets her at work and hastens her operations. Also, 161. By Tubers (74, 75, Fig. 59, 60). These are under-ground branches with lively buds, well charged with prepared nourishment, rendering them more inde- pendent and surer to grow. Potatoes and Ground-Artichokes are familiar illus- trations of the kind. They are propagated year after year by their buds, or eyes, being very seldom raised from the seed. Each annual crop of tubers is set free at maturity, by the death of all the rest of the plant. 162. By Corms, Bulbs, and Bulblets; as explained in paragraphs 77 and 106 to 109. Fig. 76 shows a corm or solid bulb of Crocus, which itself grew by feeding upon its parent, whose exhausted remains are seen underneath: it has already pro- duced a crop of buds, to grow in their turn into another generation of corms, con- -suming their parent in the process. Bulbs produce a crop of new bulbs from buds in the axils of some of their scales. Tulips, Daffodils, and Garlics propagate very freely in this manner, not only keeping up the succession of generations, but multi- plying greatly their numbers. Analysis of the Section. 154. Plants multiply as well as grow. 155. In two ways; all plants by seeds, many by buds. 156. Most kinds may be propagated by buds artificially. 157. By Layers and Slips or Cuttings. 158. By Grafting or Budding. 159. Object gained by this mode of propagation. 160. It takes place naturally, by Stolons, Offsets, &c. 161. By Tubers. 162. By Corms, Bulbs, and Bulblets. 58 HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED. Section II.— How Propagated by Seeds. 163. Propagation from buds is really only the division, as it grows, of one plant into two or more, or the separation of shoots from a stock. Propagation from seed is the only true reproduction. In the seed an entirely new individual is formed. So the Seed, and the Fruzt, in which the seed is produced, and the Flower, which gives rise to the fruit, are the Organs of Reproduction (2). 164, Every species at some period or other produces seeds, or something which answers to seeds. Upon this distinction, namely, whether they bear true flowers producing genuine seeds, or produce something merely answering to flowers and seeds, is founded the grand division of all plants into two series or grades, that is, into PHznogamous or FLowerine Puants, and CryproGamous or FLow- ERLESS PLAnTs. 165. Cryptogamous or Flowerless Plants do not bear real flowers, having stamens and pistils, nor produce real seeds, or bodies having an embryo ready formed in them. But they produce minute and very simple bodies which answer the purpose of seeds. To distinguish them from true seeds, they are called Spores. Ferns, Mosses, Lichens, and Seaweeds, are all flowerless plants, reproduced by spores. 166. Phenogamous or Flowering Plants are those which do bear flowers and seeds; the seed essentially consisting of an embryo or germ, ready formed within its coats, which has only to grow and unfold itself to become a plant; as has been fully explained in the first and second sections of Chapter I. 167. Flowerless plants have their organs too minute to be examined without nuch magnifying, and are too difficult for young beginners. The ordinary or Flowering class of plants will afford them abundant occupation. We are to study first the Flower, then the Fruit and Seed. Section III. — Flowers. §1. Their Arrangement on the Stem. 168. Inflorescence is the term used by botanists for flower-clusters generally, or for the way blossoms are arranged on the stem. Everything about this is governed by a very simple rule, which is this : — 169. Flower-buds appear in the same places that common buds (that is, leaf- buds) do; and they blossom out in the order of their age, the earliest-formed first, FLOWERS: THEIR ARRANGEMENT ON THE STEM. 59 and so on in regular succession. Now the place for buds is in the axils of the leaves (axillary buds, 58), and at the end of the stem (terminal bud, 57): so these are also the places from which flowers spring. Fig. 138 is a Trillium, with its flower terminal, that is, from the summit of the stem. Fig. 189 is a piece of Moneywort, with axillary flow- ers, i.e. from the axils of the leaves. The Morn- ing-Glory (Fig. 4) also has its flowers axillary. 170. Nolitary Flowers. In both these cases the blossoms are solitary, that is, single. There is only one on the plant in Trillium (Fig. 138). In Fig. 139, there is on- ly one from the same axil; and although, as the stem grows on, flowers appear in succession, they are so scattered, and so accom- panied by leaves, that they cannot be said to form a flower-cluster. 171. Flower-Clusters are formed whenever the blossoms are more numerous or closer, and the ac- companying leaves are less con- spicuous. Fig. 140 is a cluster (like that of Lily of the Valley, Fig. 3) of the kind called a Terminal Flower. raceme. On comparing it with Azillary Flowers, Fig. 139, we may perceive that it differs mainly in having the leaves, one under each blossom-stalk, reduced to little scales, which are inconspicuous. In both, the flowers really spring from the axils of leaves. So they do in all the following kinds of flower-clusters, until we reach the Cyme. 172. Tue leaves of a flower-cluster take the name of Bracts. These are gen- erally very different from the ordinary leaves of the plant, commonly much smaller, and often very small indeed, as in Fig. 140. In the figures 141 to 144, the bracts are larger, and more leaf-like. They are the leaves from whose axil the flower arises. Sometimes there are bracts also on the separate flower-stalks (as on the lower ones in Fig. 140): to distinguish these we call them Bracélets. 60 HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED. 173, The flower-stalk or footstalk of a blossom is called a Peduncle (96). So the flowers in Fig. 138, 189, &c. are peduncled or stalked. But in Fig. 141 they are sitting on the stem, or sessile. 174. In clusters we need to distinguish two kinds of flower-stalks ; namely, the stalk of the whole cluster, if there be any, and the stalk of each blossom. In such cases we call the stalk of the cluster the Peduncle, and the stalk of the individual flowers we name the Ped?- cel. In the Lily of the Valley (Fig. 3, as in Fig. 140), there is the peduncle or general flower-stalk (which is here a continuation of the main stem), and then the flowers all have pedicels of their own. 175. Kinds of Flower-Clusters, Of those which bear their flowers on the sides of a main stalk, in the axils of leaves or bracts, the prin- cipal kinds are the Raceme, the Corymb, the Umbel, the Head, and the Spike with its varieties; also the Panicle. In the head and the spike the flowers are sessile. In the others they have pedicels or footstalks of their own. 176. A Raceme is a cluster with the blossoms arranged along the sides of a main flower-stalk, or its continuation, and all on pedicels of about the same length. A bunch of Currant-blossoms or berries, or the graceful cluster of the Lily of the Valley (Fig. 3, 140) are good illustrations. Fig. 142 shows the plan of the raceme. Notice that a raceme always blossoms from the bottom to the top, in regular order; because the lower buds are of course the oldest. 141 Spike. Raceme. Corymb, 177. A Corymb is a flat-topped or convex cluster, like that of Hawthorn. Fig. FLOWERS: THEIR ARRANGEMENT ON THE STEM. 61 143 shows the plan of it. It is plainly the same as a raceme with the lower pedicels much longer than the uppermost. Shorten the body, or axis, of a corymb so that it is hardly perceptible, and we change it into 178. An Umbel, as in Fig.144. This is a cluster in which the pedicels all spring from about the same level, like the rays or sticks of an umbrella, from which it takes its name. The Milkweed and Primrose bear their flowers in umbels. 179. The outer blossoms of a corymb or an umbel plainly answer to the lower blos- soms of a raceme. So the umbel and the corymb blossom from the circumference towards the centre, the outer flower-buds being the oldest. By that we may know such clusters from cymes. ae. 180. A Head is a flower- cluster with a very short body, or axis, and without any pedi- cels to the blossoms, or hardly any, so that it has a rounded form. The Button-bush (Fig. 145), the Thistle, and the Red Clover are good examples. 181. It is plain that an umbel would be changed into a head by shortening its pedicels down to nothing; or, contrarily, that a head would become an umbel by giving stalks to its flowers. 182. A Spike is a lengthened flower-cluster, with no pedicels to the flowers, or hardly any. Fig. 141 gives the plan of a spike; and the common Mullein and the Plantain are good examples. A head would become a spike by lengthening its axis. A ra- ceme would become a spike by shortening its pedicels so much that they could hardly be seen. The Catkin and the Spadizx are only sorts of spike. 183. A Catkin or Ament is a spike with scaly bracts. The flowers of the Wil. low, Poplar, Alder, and Birch (Fig. 146) are in catkins. Catkin, 62 HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED. 184. A Spadix is a spike with small flowers crowded on a thick and fleshy body or axis. Sweet-Flag adhd Indian-Turnip are common examples. In Indian-Tur- nip (Fig. 147) the spadix bears flowers only near the bottom, but is naked and club-shaped above. And it is surrounded by a peculiar leaf or bract in the form of a hood. 185. Such a bract or leaf enwrapping a spike or cluster of blossoms is named a Spathe. 186. A set of bracts around a flower-cluster, such as those around the base of the umbel in Fig. 144, is called an Involucre. 187. Any of these clusters may be compound. That is, there may be racemes clustered in racemes, making a compound raceme, or corymbs in corymbs, or umbels in umbels, making a compound umbel, as in Caraway (Fig. 148), Parsnip, Parsley, and all that family. The little umbels of a compound umbel are called Unmbel- lets ; and their involucre, if they have any, is called an Involucel. 188. A Panicle is an irreg- ularly branching compound flower-cluster, such as would be formed by a raceme with its lower pedicels branched. Fig. 149 shows a simple panicle, the branches, or what would be the pedicels, ne only once branched. A Campound:Urabel: bunch of Grapes and the flower-cluster of Horsechestnut are more compound panicles. A crowded compound panicle of this sort has been called a Thyrse. iio 189. A Cyme is the general name of flower-clusters of the panels: kind in which a flower always terminates the stem or main peduncle, and each of 147 Spadix and Spathe. FLOWERS: THEIR PARTS. 63 its branches. The plan of a cyme is illustrated in the following figures. Fig. 150, to begin with, is a stem terminated by a flower, which plainly comes from a terminal bud or is a terminal flower. Fig. 151 is the same, which has started a branch from the axil / of each of the uppermost Pees Oo ene leaves; each of these WY ends in a_ flower-bud. : Fig. 152 is the same, with the side branches again branched in the same way, each branch SS ending in a flower-bud. SF This makes a cluster 150 151 Plan of the Cyme. looking like a corymb, as shown in Fig. 143; but observe that here in the cyme the middle flower, a, which ends the main stem, blossoms first; next, those flowers marked 08; then those marked c, and so on, the centre one of each set being the earliest ; while in the corymb the blossoming begins with the outermost flowers and proceeds regu larly towards the centre. The Elder, the Cornel, and the Hydrangea (Fig. 169) have their blossoms in cymes many times branched in this way; that is, they have “compound cymes. 190. A Fascicle is only a close or very much crowded cyme, with very short footstalks to the flowers, or none at all, as the flower-cluster of Sweet-William. § 2. Forms and Kinds of Flowers. 191. The Parts of a Flower were illustrated at the beginning of the book, in Chapter I., Section I. Let us glance at them again, taking a different flower for the example, namely, that of the Three-leaved Stonecrop. Although small, this has all the parts very distinct and regular. Fig. 153 is a moderately enlarged view of one of the middle or earliest flowers of this Stonecrop. (The others are like it, only with their parts in fours instead of fives.) And Fig.154 shows two parts of each sort, one on each side, more magnified, and separated from the end of the flower-stalk (or Receptacle), but standing in their natural position, namely, below or outside a Sepal, or leaf of the Calyx; then a Petal, or leaf of the Corolla ; then a Stamen; then a Pistil. e 64 HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED. 192. This is a complete and regular, yet simple flower; and will serve as a pat- tern, with which a great variety of flowers may be compared. 193. When we wish to designate the leaves of the blossom by one word, we call them the Perfanth. This name is formed of two Greek words meaning “around the flower.” It is convenient to use in cases where (as in the Lilies, illustrated on the first page) we are not sure at first view whether the leaves of the flower are calyx or corolla, or both. 194. A Petal is sometimes to be distin- guished into two parts; its Blade, like the blade of a leaf, and its Claw, which is a kind of tapering base or foot of the blade. More commonly there is only a blade; but the petals of Roses have a very short, nar- row base or claw; those of Mustard, a longer one; those of Pinks and the like, a Sepal. narrow claw, which is generally longer than the blade (Fig. 808). 195. A Stamen, as we have already learned (15, 17), generally consists of two parts ; its /vlament and its Anther. But the filament is only a kind of footstalk, no more necessary to a stamen than a petiole is to a leaf. It is therefore sometimes very short or wanting; when the anther is sess¢le. The anther is the essential part. Its use, as we know, is to produce pollen. 196. The Pollen is the matter, looking like dust, which is shed from the anthers when they open (Fig. 159). Here is a grain of pollen, a single particle of the fine powder shed by the anther of a Mallow, as seen highly magnified. In this plant the grains are beset Petal. Stamen, Pistil. Pistil. Stamen. Petal. 155 with bristly points ; in many plants they are smooth; and they differ _ Pollen-grain, greatly in appearance, size, and shape in different species, but are all just alike in the same species ; so that the family a plant belongs to can often be told by seeing only a grain of its pollen. The use of the pollen is to lodge on the stigma of the pistil, where it grows in a peculiar way, its inner coat projecting a slender thread FLOWERS: THEIR NATURE. 65 which sinks into the pistil, somewhat as a root grows down into the ground, and reaches an ovule in the ovary, causing it in some unknown way to develop an embryo, and thereby become a seed. 197. As to the Prst#l, we have also learned that it consists of three parts, the Ovary, the Style, and the Stigma (16); that the style is not always present, being only a stalk or support for the stigma. But the two other parts are essential, — the Stigma to receive the pollen, and the Ovary to contain the ovules, or bodies which are to become seeds. Fig. 156 represents a pistil of Stonecrop, magnified; its stigma (known by the naked roughish surface) at the tip of the style; the style gradually enlarging downwards into the ovary. Here the ovary is cut in two, to show some of the ovules inside. And Fig. 157 shows one of the ovules, or future seeds, still more magnified. 198. Nature of the Flower. In the mind of a botanist, who looks at the philosophy of the thing, A flower answers to a sort of branch. ‘True, a flower does not bear much resemblance to a common branch; but we have seen (90-109) what remarkable forms and ap- pearances branches, and the leaves they bear, occasionally take. Flowers come from buds just as branches do, and spring from just the same places that branches do (169). In fact, a flower is a branch intended for a peculiar purpose. While a branch with ordinary leaves is intended for growing, and for collecting from the air and preparing or digesting food, —and while such peculiar branches as tubers, bulbs, &c. are for holding pre- pared food for future use,—a blossom is a very short and a special sort of branch, intended for the production of seed. If the whole flower answers to a branch, then it follows that (excepting the receptacle, which is a continuation of the flower-stalk ) — ¢ The parts of the flower answer to leaves. This is plainly so with the sepals and the petals, which are commorily called the leaves of the blossom. The sepals or calyx-leaves are commonly green and leaf-like, or partly so. And the petals or corolla-leaves are leaves in shape, only more delicate in texture and in color. In many blossoms, and very plainly in a White Water-Lily, the*calyx-leaves run into fed Stigma. Style. Ovary. 157 Pistil. Ovule. 66 HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED. corolla-leaves, and the inner corolla-leaves change gradually into stamens, — show. ing that even stamens answer to leaves. 198°. How astamen answers to a leaf, according to the botanist’s idea, Fig. 158 is intended to show. The filament or stalk of the stamen answers to the footstalk of a leaf; and the anther answers to the blade. The lower part of the figure represents a short filament, bearing an anther which has its upper half cut away; and the summit of a leaf is Fig. 159 is the whole stamen of a Lily put beside it for comparison. If the whole anther corre- sponds with the blade of a leaf, then its two cells, or halves, answer to the halves of the blade, one on each side of the midrib; the continuation of the filament, which con- nects the two cells (called the connective), answers to the midrib ; and the anther generally opens along what answer to the margins of a leaf. 199. It is easy to see how a simple pistil answers to a leaf. A simple pistil, like one of those of the Stonecrop (Fig. 154, 156) is regarded by the botanist as if it were made by the folding up inwards of the blade of a leaf, placed above it. Plan of a Stamen, (that is, of what would have been a leaf on any branch of the common kind,) so that the margins come together and join, making a hollow closed bag, which is the 160 161 Plan of Pistil. ovary; a tapering summit forms the style, and some part of the margins of the leaf in this, destitute of skin, becomes the stig- ma. To understand this better, compare Fig. 160, represent- ing a leaf rolled up in this way, with Fig. 156, and with Fig. 161, which are pistils, cut in two, that the interior of the ovary may be seen. Jt is here plain that the ovules or seeds are at- tached to what answers to the united margins of the leaf. The particular part or line, or whatever it may be, that the ovules or seeds are attached to, is called the Placenta. 200. Varieties or Sorts of Flowers, Now that we have learned how greatly roots, stems, and leaves vary in their forms and appearances, we should expect flowers to exhibit great variety in different species. Tn fact, each class and each family of plants has its flowers upon a plan of its own. But if studelits understand the general plan of flowers, as seen in the FLOWERS: THEIR FORMS AND KINDS. 67 Morning-Glory, the Lily (Fig. 1-12), and the Stonecrop (191), they will soon learn to understand it in any or all of its diverse forms. The principal varieties or special forms that occur among common plants will be described under the families, in the Plora which makes the Second Part of this book. There stu- dents will learn them in the easiest way, as they happen to meet with them in collecting and analyzing plants. Here we will only notice the leading Avnds of Variation in flowers, at the same time explaining some of the terms which are used in describing them. 201. Flowers consist of sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils. There may be few or many of each of these in any particular flower; these parts may be all separate, as they are in the Stonecrop; or they may be grown together, in every degree and in every conceivable way; or any one or. more of the parts may be left out, as it were, or wanting altogether in a particular flower. And the parts of the same sort may be all alike, or some may be larger or smaller than the rest, or differently shaped. So that flowers may be classified into several sorts, of which the following are the principal. 202. A Complete Flower is one which has all the four parts, namely, calyx, corolla, stamens, and _pis- 162 tils. This is the case in all the flowers we have Completeower of Talents yet taken for examples ; also in Trillium (Fig. 138, reduced in size, and here in Fig. 162, with the blossom of the size of life, and spread open flat). 203. A Perfect Flower is one which has both sta- mens and pistils. A complete flower is of course a. , perfect one; but many flowers are perfect and not complete ; as in Fig. 163, 164. 204. An Incomplete Flower is one which wants at least one of the four kinds of organs. This may happen in various ways. It may be Apetalous ; that is, having no petals. This is the case in Anemony (Fig. 163), and Marsh-Marigold. For these have only one row of flower-leaves, and that is a calyx. The petals which al@ here wanting appear 163 Tncompeete flower of Anemony. 68 HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED. in some flowers very much like these, as in Buttercups (Fig. 238) and Goldthread. Or the flower may be still more incomplete, and Naked, or Achlamydeous ; that is, without any flower-leaves at all, neither calyx nor corolla. That is the case in the Lizard’s-Tail (Fig. 164), and in Willows. Or it may be incomplete by wanting either the stamens or the pistils; then it is 205. Au Imperfect or Separated Flower. Of course, if the stamens are wanting in one kind of blos- som there must be others that have them. Plants with imperfect flowers accordingly bear two sorts of blossoms, namely, one sort Staminate or Sterile, those having stamens only, and therefore not producing seed; and the other Pistillate or Fertile, having a pistil but no good sta- mens, and ripening seed only when fertilized by pollen from the sterile flowers. The Oak and Chestnut, Hemp, Moonseed, and Indian Corn are so. Fig. 165 is one of the staminate or sterile flowers of Indian Corn; these form the “tassel” at the top of the stem: their pollen falls upon the “silk,” or styles, of the forming ear below, 164 Flower of Lizard’s-Tail. consisting of rows of pistillate flowers. Fig. 166 is one of these, with its very long style. The two kinds of flowers in this case are Monecious ; that is, both borne by the same individ- ual plant; as they are also in the Oak, Chestnut, Birch, &c. In other cases Diecious ; that is, when one tree or herb bears flowers with stamens only, and another flowers with pistils only ; as in Willows and Poplars, Hemp, and Moonseed. Fig. 167 is Moonseed Flowers. a staminate flower from one plant of Moon- seed, magnified; and Fig. 168, a pistillate flower, borne by a plant from a different root. There is a third way: some plants produce what are called Polygamous flower that is, having some blossoms with pistils only or with S 166 Indian Corn. FLOWERS: THEIR FORMS AND KINDS. 69 stamens only, and others perfect, having both stamens and pistils, either on the same or on different individuals. The Red Maple is a very good case of this kind; the two or three sorts of flowers look- ing very differ- ently when they appear in early spring; those of one tree having long red stamens and no good pis- til, those of other trees having con- spicuous _ pistils, in some blossoms with no good sta- Hydrangea. mens at all, in others with short ones. There are also what are called abortive or 206. Neutral Flowers; having neither stamens nor pistils, and so good for nothing except for show. In the Snowball of the gardens and in richly cultivated Hydran- geas all the blossoms are neutral, and no fruit is formed. Even in the wild state of these shrubs, some of the blossoms around the margin of the cluster are neu- tral (as in the Wild Hydrangea, Fig. 169), consisting only of three or four flower-leaves, very much larger than the small perfect flowers which make up the rest of the cluster. Also what the gardener calls Double Flowers, when full, are neutral, as in double Roses and Buttercups. These are blossoms which by cultivation have all their stamens and pistils changed into petals. \ 207. A Symmetrical Flower is one which has an equal i number of parts of each kind or in each set or row. Blane This is so in the Stonecrop (Fig. 153), which has five sepals in the calyx, five petals in the’ corolla, ten stamens (that is, two sets of stamens of five each), and five pistils. Or often it has flowers with four sepals, and tHfp there are only four 70 HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED. petals, eight stamens (twice four), and four pistils. So the flower of Trillium (Fig. 162) is symmetrical; for it consists of three sepals, three petals, six stamens (one before each sepal and one before each petal), and a pistil plainly composed of three put together, having three styles or stigmas. Flax affords an- other good illustration of symmetrical flowers (Fig. 170): it has a calyx of five sepals, a corolla of five petals, five stamens, and five styles. In such flowers, and in blossoms generally, the parts alter- nate with each other; that is, the petals stand be- fore the intervals between the sepals, the stamens, when of the same number, before the intervals be- tween the petals, and so on. 208. An Unsymmetrical Flower is one in which the different organs or sets do not match in the number of their parts. The flower of Anemony, Fig. 168, is unsymmetrical, having many more stamens and pistils than it has calyx-leaves. And the blossom of Larkspur (Fig. 171) is unsym- z 75 a metrical, because, while BAPERO: it has five sepals or leaves in the calyx, there are only four petals or co- rolla-leaves, but a great many stamens, and only one, two, or three pistils. The sepals and petals are dis- played separately in Fig. 172; the five pieces marked a s are the sepals; the four marked p are the petals. Mialets 209. A Regular Flower is one in which the parts of each sort are all of the same shape and size. The flowers in Flax (Fig. 170) and in all the examples pre- ceding it are regular. @While in Larkspur and Monkshood we have not only an unsymmetrical, but FLOWERS: THEIR FORMS AND KINDS. 71 210. An Irregular Flower; that is, one in which all the parts of thé same sort are not alike. For in the Larkspur-blossom one of the sepals bears a long hollow spur or tail behind, which the four others have not; and the four small petals are of two sorts. The Violet-blossom (Fig. 173) and the Pea-blossom (Fig. 351) are symmetrical (except as to the pistil), but irregular. Fig. 174 shows the calyx and the corolla of the Violet above it displayed ; s, the five sepals; p, the five petals. One of the latter differs from the rest, having a sac or spur at the base, which makes the blossom irregular. So far, most of the examples in this section are from 211. Flowers with the parts all distinct, that is, of separate pieces ;— the calyx of distinct sepals, the corolla of distinct petals (i. e. Polypetalous), the stamens dis- tinct (separate, &c.), and all the parts growing in regular order out of the receptacle, in other words, inserted on the receptacle. These are the simplest or most natural flowers, the parts answering to so many leaves on a short branch. But as in Honeysuckles (Fig. 389) the leaves of the same pair are often found grown together into one, so in blossom-leaves, there are plenty of 212. Flowers with their parts united or grown together. The flower of Morning- Glory (Fig. 4) is a good example. Here is the ca- lyx of five separate leaves or sepals (Fig. 176); but in the corolla (Fig. 175) the five petals are com- pletely united into a cup, just as the upper leaves of Honeysuckles are into a round plate. Then, in Stramonium (Fig. 177), the five sepals also are 2 united or grown together A almost to their tips into a Morning-Glory. Strumoniam, cup or tube; and so are the fivé petals likewise, but not quite to their tips; and the five teeth or lobes (both of the calyx and of the corolla) plainly show how many leaves there really are in each set. When this is so in thegcorolla, it forms\what is called a 72 HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED. 213. Monopetalous corolla; i.e. a corolla of one piece. It is so called, whether it makes a cup or tube with the border entire, as in Morning-Glory (Fig. 175), or with the border lobed, that is, the tips of the petals separate, as in Stramonium (Fig. 177), 178, Trumpet- Honeysuckle. or even if the petals are united only at the bottom, as in the Potato- blossom (Fig. 182). The same may be said of a calyx when the sepals are united into a cup, only this is called Monosepalous. A mo- nopetalous corolla (and so of a calyx) is generally distinguishable into two parts, namely, its Zube or narrow part below, and its Border or Limb, the spreading part above. It is regudar when all sides and lobes of it are alike, as in Fig. 175,177, &c. It is ¢rregular when the sides or parts are different or unequal in size or shape, as in Sage, Dead- Nettle (Fig. 181), the common Honeysuckle, &e. It is Tubular, when long and narrow without a conspicuous border, as in Fig. 178, or Trumpet-shaped ; tubular, gradually enlarging upwards, as in Trumpet-Creeper and Trumpet-Honeysuckle (Fig. 178) ; Funnel-shaped or Funnel-form (like a funnel or tunnel); when the tube opens gradually into a spreading border, as in Morning-Glory (Fig. 175) and Stramoni- um (Fig. 177) ; Bell-shaped or Campanulate ; when the tube is wide for its length and the border a little spreading, like a bell, as in Hare- bell (Fig. 179). Salver-shaped ; when a slender tube F spreads suddenly into a flat border, as in Phlox (Fig. 180). Wheel-shaped or Rotate ; same as salver-shaped, with the tube very short or none, as in the corolla of the Potato (Fig. 182) and the Nightshade (Fig. 183). Labiate or Two-lipped; when the border di- vides into two parts, or dips, an upper and a lower (sometimes likened to those of an animal with gaping mouth), as in Sage, Dead-Nettle (Fig. 181, and the like. This is one of the irregular forms of monopetalous corolla, and the commonest. FLOWERS: THEIR FORMS AND KINDS. 73 214. Stamens united are also common. They may be united by their filaments or by their anthers. In the Cardinal-flower (Fig. 184), and other Lobelias, both the anthers (a) and the filaments (f) are united into a tube. So also in the Pumpkin and Squash. Botanists use the following terms to express the different ways in which stamens may be connected. ‘They are Syngenesious, when the anthers are united into a ring or tube, as in Lobelia (Fig. 184 a), and in the Bas flower, and all that family. Monadelphous (i.e. in one brotherhood), when the filaments are united all into one set or tube, as in Lobelia (Fig. 184 /), and the Mallow Family (Fig. 185); also in Passion-flowers and Lupines (Fig. 187). 184. Lobelia. Diadelphous (in two brotherhoods), when the filaments are united in two sets. Fig. 186 shows this in the Pea, and the like, where "_nine stamens are combined in one set and . one stamen is left for the other. ti Triadelphous (in three brotherhoods), 185. Mallow. when the filaments are united or collected in three sets, as in the Common St. John’s-wort or Hy- pericum (Fig. 297); and Polyadelphous (in many brotherhoods), when combined in more than three sets, as in some St. John’s-worts. 215. Pistils united are very common. Two, three, four, or more grow together at the time of their formation, and make a Compound Pistil. Indeed, wherever there \ is a single pistil to a flower, it is much oftener a compound pistil than a simple one. But, of course, when the pistils of a flower are more than one, they are all simple. Pistils may be united in every degree, and by their ovaries only, by their styles only (as they are slightly in Prickly-Ash), or even by their stigmas only (as in Milkweeds), or by all three. But more commonly the ovaries are united into one Compound Ovary, while the styles or stigmas are partly separate or distinct. Three degrees of union are shown in these figures. Fig. 188, two pistils of a Saxi- frage, their ovaries united only part way up (cut across both above and below). 74 HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED. Fig. 189, pistil of Common St. John’s-wort, plainly composed of three simple ones, with their ovaries completely united, while their slender styles are separate. 188 189 Compound Pistils of two and three cells. Fig. 190, same of Shrubby St. John’s-wort, like the last, but with the three styles also grown together into one, the little stigmas only sepa- rate; but as it gets older this style generally splits down into three, and when the pod is ripe it also splits into three, plainly showing that this compound pistil consists of three united into one. On turning now to Fig. 8 and Fig. 10 to 12 on the same page, it will be seen that the pistil in Morning-Glory and in Lily is a compound one, made of three united even to their stigmas. This is shown externally, by the stigma being some- what three-lobed in both. And it becomes perfectly evident on cutting the ovary in two, bringing to view the three cells (Fig. 12, as in Fig. 189, 190), each an- swering to one simple ovary. 216. So compound ovaries generally have as many cells as there are simple pistils or pistil-leaves in their composition; and have the placentas (199) bearing the seeds all joined in the centre: that is, the placentas or compound placenta in the axis. partitions or divisions between the cells vanish, as in Pinks: then the compound pistil is only one-celled. And sometimes there never were any partitions; but the pistil was formed of two, three, or more open jistil-leaves grown together from the first by their edges, just as petals join to make a monopetalous corolla. Then the ovules or seeds, or the placentas that bear them, are partetal, that is, are borne on the parietes or wall of the ovary. Fig. 191 rietal placentas or seed-bearing lines; and Fig. 192 is But sometimes the . + 192 is the lower part of a compound ovary, with three pa- ono-celled compound ovary, with placentas parietal, a diagram, to explain how such a pistil is supposed to be made of three leaves united by their edges, and these edges bearing the ovules or seeds. FLOWERS: THEIR FORMS AND KINDS. , 75 217. Flowers with one set of Organs united with another. The natural way is, for all the parts to stand on the receptacle or end of the flower-stalk, — the stem-part of the blossom (191). Then the parts are said to be free, or to be inserted on the receptacle. So it is in the Buttercup, Lily, Trillium (Fig. 162), Flax,&e. But in many flowers one set of organs grows fast to an- other set, or, as we say, is inserted on it. For instance, we may have the Petals and Stamens inserted on the Calyx, as in the Cherry and all the Rose family. Fig. 193 is a flower of a Cherry, cut through the middle lengthwise, to show the petals and stamens growing on the tube or cup of the calyx. The meaning of it is that all these parts have grown together from their earliest formation. Next we may have the Calyx cohering or grown fast to the Ovary, or at least its cup or lower part grown to the ovary, and forming a part of the thickness of its walls, as in the Currant and Gooseberry, the Apple and Hawthorn. Fig. 13 194 is a flower of Hawthorn cut through al ivot: atiiawtnotnsb| esto: lengthwise to show this. In such cases all other parts of the blossom appear to grow on the ovary. So the ovary is said to be inferior, or, which is the same thing, the calyx (i.e. its lobes or border) and the rest of the blossom, superior. Or else we say “calyx coherent with the ovary,” which is best, because it explains the thing. Stamens inserted on the Corolla. The stamens and the corolla generally go to- gether. And when the corolla is of one piece (i. e. monopetalous, 213), the stamens almost always adhere to it within, more or less; that is, are borne or “inserted on the Half of a Cherry-blossom. 195. Morning-Glory. 76 HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED. corolla.” Fig. 195 is the corolla of Morning-Glory laid open, to show the stamens inserted on it, i.e. grown fast to it, towards the bottom. We may even have the Stamens inserted on the Style, that is, united with it even up to the stigma. It is so in the Orchis family. 218. Gymnospermous or Open and Naked-seeded Pistils, This is the very peculiar pistil which belongs to Pines, Spruces, Cedars, and all that family of plants; and it is the simplest of all. For here the pistil is an open leaf or scale, bearing two or three ovules on its upper or inner surface. Each scale of a Pine-cone is an open pistil, and the ovules, instead of being enclosed in an ovary which forms a pod, are naked, and exposed to the pollen shed by the stamen-bearing flowers, which falls directly upon them. Fig. 196 is a view of the upper side of an open pistil or scale from a forming Larch-cone, at flowering-time, showing the two ovules borne on the face of it, one on each side near the bottom. Fig. 197 197 is the same grown larger, the ovules becoming seeds. When ripe and dry, the scales turn back, and the naked seeds peel off and fall away. 219. Plants which have such open scales for pistijls accordingly take the name of Gymnospermovus or Naked-seeded. The Pine family is the principal example of the kind (see p. 201). All other Flowering plants are ANGIOSPERMOUS, that is, have their ovules and seeds produced in a seed-vessel of some sort. Analysis of the Section. 168. Arrangement of Flowers, or Inflorescence. 169. Situation of Flower-buds : terminal and axil- lary. 170. Solitary flowers. 171. Flower-clusters. 172. Bracts and Bractlets. 178, 174. Flower- stalks: Peduncle and Pedicels. 175. Kinds of flower-clusters. 176. Raceme; order of opening of the blossoms. 177. Corymb. 178. Umbel. 179. Comparison with Raceme, &c. 180. Head. 181. Com- parison with the Umbel, and, 182. the Spike. 183. Catkin or Ament. 184. Spadix. 185. Its Spathe. 186. Involucre. 187. Compound Clusters: Umbellets; Involucel. 188, Panicle; Thyrse. 189. Cyme. 190. Fascicle. 191. Flowers: their parts illustrated by the Stonecrop: 192. A pattern flower. 198. Leaves of flower or Perianth. 194. Petal; its Blade and Claw. 195. Stamen; its parts. 196. Pollen; its structure and use. 197. Pistil; its parts. 198. Nature of the flower; its parts answer to leaves. 198". How a stamen answers toa leaf. 199. How a pistil answers toa leaf: Placenta. 200. Sorts of Flowers: one general plan: 201. Varied in several ways. 202. Complete flower. 203, Perfect dower. 204. Incornplete flower: apetalous; naked. 205. Imperfect or separated flowers: staminate or sterice ;, pistiliate or fertile; moncecious, dicecious, or polygamous. 206. Neutral flowers. FRUIT. 77 207. Symmetrical flowers. 208. Unsymmetrical flowers. 209. Regular flowers. 210. Irregular flowers. 211. Flowers with the parts distinct. 212. With their parts grown together. 218. Monopetalous corolla, &e.: its varieties in form. 214. Stamens united ; syngenesious, monadelphous, diadelphous, triadelphous, and polyadelphous. 215. Pistils united into a Compound Pistil: illustrations. 216. Those with two or more cells and placentas in the centre; of one cell with placentas parietal or on the walls. 217. Flowers with one set of organs united with another; as petals and stamens with the calyx; the tube or cup of the calyx with the ovary; stamens with the corolla; or with the style. 218, Gymnospermous or Naked-seeded Pistil of Pines, &c. 219. Division of plants on this account. Section IV. — Fruit and Seed. § 1. Seed- Vessels. 220. Arrer the flower comes the Fruit. The ovary of the flower becomes the Seed-vessel (or Pericarp) in the fruit. The ovules are now seeds. 221. A Simple Fruit is a seed-vessel formed by the ripening of one pistil (with whatever may have grown fast to it in the flower, such as the tube of the calyx in many cases, 217). Simple fruits may be most conveniently classified into Fleshy Frutts, Stone Fruits, and Dry Fruits. 222. The principal sorts of fleshy fruits are the Berry, the Pepo, and the Pome. 223. A Berry is fleshy or pulpy throughout. Grapes, tomatoes, gooseberries, currants, and cranberries are good ex- amples. (Fig. 198 shows a cranberry cut in two.) Oranges and lemons are only a kind of berry with a thicker and leath- ery rind. 224. The Pepo or Gourd Fruit (such as a squash, melon, cu- TBs Berry cumber, and bottle-gourd, Fig. 199) is only a sort of berry with a harder rind. 225. A Pome or Apple-Fruit is the well-known fruit of the Apple, Pear, Quince, and Hawthorn. It comes from a compound pistil with a coherent calyx-tube (that is, from such a flower as Fig. 194), and this calyx, 199. Pepo. 78 HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED. growing very thick and fleshy, makes the whole eatable part or flesh of the fruit in the haw and the quince. The real seed-vessels in the quince (Fig. 201), Pome. nut. So the Stone (or Putamen, as the botanist terms it) does not belong to the seed, but to the fruit. It has the seed in it, with coats of its own. 227. Dry Fruits are those that ripen without flesh or pulp. They are either dehiscent or indehiscent. Dehis- apple (Fig. 200), and the like, consist of the five thin, parchment- like cells of the core, containing the seeds. In the quince, all the flesh is calyx. But in the pear and apple the flesh of the core, viz. all inside of the circle of greenish dots which are seen on cut- ting the apple across (Fig. 200), belongs to the receptacle of the flower, which here rises so as to surround the real seed-vessels. Cutting the apple lengthwise, these dots come to view as slender greenish lines, separating what belongs to the core from what be- longs to the calyx: they are the vessels which in the blossom belong to the petals and the stamens above. In the haw, the cells become thick and stony, and so form a kind of 226. Stone-Fruit or Drupe. Plums, cherries, and peaches (Fig. 202) are the commonest and best examples of the stone-fruit. It is a fruit in which the outer part becomes fleshy or pulpy, like a berry, while the inner part becomes hard or stony, like a cent seed-vessels are those which split or burst open, in 202 some regular way, to discharge the seeds. Indehiscent Drupe. seed-vessels are those that remain closed, retaining the seed until they grow, or until the seed-vessel decays. All stone fruits and fleshy fruits are of course indehiscent. 228. The sorts of ¢ndehiscent dry fruits that we need to distinguish are the Akene, the Grain, the Nut, and the Key. 229. The Akene includes all dry, one-seeded, closed, small fruits, such as are generally mistaken for naked seeds; such, for instance, as the little seed-like fruits of Buttercups. (Fig. 203 is one of these, whole, a good deal enlarged; Fig. 204, one with part of the wall cut away.) FRUIT. 79 That they are not seeds is plain from the way they are produced, and from their bearing a style or stigma, at least when young. They are evidently pistils ripened ; and on cutting them open, the seed is found whole within (Fig. 204). 230. A Grain (or Caryops?s) is the same as an akene, except that the thin seed- vessel adheres firmly to the whole surface of the seed. Indian corn, wheat, rye, and all such kinds of grain are examples. 231. A Nut is a hard-shelled, one-seeded, indehiscent fruit, like an akene, but on a larger scale. Beechnuts, chestnuts, and acorns (Fig. 205) are familiar examples. Jn all these the nut is surrounded by a kind of involucre, called a Cupule or Cup, which, however, is no part of the fruit. In the Oak, the cupule is a scaly cup; in the Beech and Chestnut, it isa kind of bur; in the Hazel, it is a leaf-like cup or covering; in Hop-Hornbeam, it is a thin and closed bag. The fruit of the Walnut, Butternut, and the like, is between a drupe and a nut, having a fleshy outer layer. 232. A Key or Key-Fruit (called by botanists a Samara) is like an akene or nut, or any other indehiscent, one-seeded fruit, only it is winged. The fruits of the Ash (Fig. 206) and of the Elm (Fig. 207) are of this kind. That of the Maple consists of two keys partly joined at the base, both from one flower (Fig. 208). 233. Dehiscent Fruits, or dry fruits which split or burst open in some regular way, take the general name of = * 234. Pods, These generally split lengthwise when ripe and dry. Pods formed of a simple pistil mostly open down their inner edge, namely, that which answers to the united mar- gins of the pistil-leaf. Compare Fig. 160 with Fig. 209: the latter is the simple pod of a Marsh- Marigold open after ripening, and the seeds fallen, so becoming a leaf again, as it were. Some such pods also split down the back as 205 Not and Cupale, 207 7 : ' Key. Pair of Keys. well as down the inner side; that —Pened Follicle. is, along what answers to the midrib of the leaf; as do pea-pods (Fig. 211). 6 80 HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED. 235. A Follicle is such a simple pod which opens down one side only. The pods of Peony, Columbine, and Marsh-Marigold (Fig. 210) are follicles. 236. A Legume is a pod of a simple pistil, which splits into two pieces. It is the fruit of the Pea or Pulse family. Fig. 211 is a legume of the Pea, open, separated into its two valves. (Fig. 2138), &e. an 238. The pieces into which a pod splits are called ea its Valves. So a follicle (Fig. 210) is one-valved ; a legume (Fig. 211), tewo-valved ; the cap- sules in Fig. 212 and 213, both three-valved, &c. 239. Two or three forms of capsule have peculiar names. The principal sorts are the Sil/que, the Siliele, and the Pyzts. 240. A Silique (Fig. 214) is the pod of the Cress family. It is slender, and splits into two valves or pieces, leaving behind a partition in a frame which bears the seeds. 241. A Silicle or Pouch is only a silique with one valve fallen. 214 216 215 237. A Capsule is the pod of any compound pistil. When capsules open regularly, they either split through Follicle. the partitions, or where these would be, as in the pod of St. John’s- wort (Fig. 212); this divides them into so many follicles, as it were, which open down the inner edge: or else they split open ¢nto the back of the cells, as in the pods of the Lily, the Iris 242. A Pyxis is a pod which opens crosswise, the top separating as a lid. Fig. 217 shows it in the Common Purslane ; the lid falling off. Silique. Silicle. 243, There remain a few sorts of 210 Capsules, opening. not much longer than broad. Fig. 215 is the silicle of Shepherd’s Purse; Fig. 216, the same fruits which are more or less compound or complex. They may be alt. Pyxis classed under the heads of Aggregated, Accessory, and Multiple fruits. FRUIT. 81 244, Aggregated Fruits are close clusters of simple fruits all of the same flower. The raspberry and the blackberry are good examples. In these, each grain is a drupelet or stone-fruit, like a cherry or peach on a very small scale. 245. Accessory Fruits are those in which the flesh or conspicuous part belongs to some accessory (i. e. added or altered) part, separate from the seed-vessel. So that what we eat as the fruit is not the fruit at all in a strict balames! sense, but a calyx, receptacle, or something else which surrounds or accompanies it. Our common checkerberry. is a simple illustration. Here the so-called berry is a @ Fi) free or separate calyx, which after flowering be- comes thick and fleshy, and encloses the true seed- vessel, as a small pod within. Fig. 218 shows the young pod, partly covered by the loose calyx. Fig. 219 is the ripe checkerberry, cut through the middle lengthwise, the calyx now thick, juicy, and eatable, and enlarged so as to enclose the small, dry pod. 246. A Rose-hip (Fig. 220) is a kind of accessory fruit, looking like a pear or a haw. But it consists of the tube of the calyx, lined by a hollow receptacle, which bears the real fruits, or seed-vessels, in the form of bony akenes. Fig. 221, a rose-hip when in flower, cut through length- wise, shows the whole plan of it: the pistils are seen attached to the sides of the urn-shaped receptacle, and their styles, tipped with the stigmas, project a little from the cavity, near the stamens, which are borne on the rim of the deep cup. 247. A Strawberry is an ac- cessory fruit of a different shape. Fig. 222 is a forming one, at flowering time, divided lengthwise: below is a part of the calyx ; above this, a large oval or conical receptacle, its whole surface covered with little pistils. In ripening this grows vastly larger, and becomes juicy and delicious. So that, in fact, what is called a berry is only the receptacle of the flower, or the end of the flower-stalk, grown very large and juicy, and not a seed-vessel at all, but bearing plenty of one-seeded dry seed-vessels (akenes, 229), so small that they are mistaken for seeds. 219 Rose-hip. 222. Young Strawberry. 82 HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED. 248. Multiple Fruits are masses of simple or accessory fruits belonging to differ- ent flowers, all compacted together. Mfudberries (Fig. 223) are of this sort. They look like blackberries, but each grain belongs to a separate flower; and the eatable pulp is not even the seed-vessel of that, but is a loose calyx grown pulpy, just like that of Checker- ', berry, and surrounding an akene, which is generally taken for a *seed. The pine-apple is much like a mulberry on a large scale. A fig is a multiple fruit, being a hollow flower-stalk grown pulpy, the inside lined by a great number of minute flowers. 249. So, under the name of fruit very different things are eaten. In figs it is a hollow flower-stalk ; in pine-apples and mulberries, clusters of flower-leaves, as well as the stalk they cover; in straw- berries, the receptacle of a flower; in blackberries, the same, though smaller, and a cluster of little stone-fruits that cover it; in raspberries, the little stone-fruits in a cluster, without the receptacle. In checkerberries, quinces, and (as to all but the core) apples and pears, we eat a fleshy enlarged calyx; in peaches and other stone-fruits, the outer part of a seed-vessel; in grapes, gooseberries, blueberries, and cranberries, the whole seed-vessel, grown rich and pulpy. 250. The Cone of Pine (Fig. 224) and the like is a sort of multiple fruit. Each scale is a whole pistillate flower, con- ae sisting of an open pistil leaf, ripened, and eee ee bearing on its upper face one or two naked seeds, —as explained at the end of the last section (218, 219). Fig. 225 shows the upper side of one of. the thick scales taken off, bearing one seed; the other, removed, is shown, with its wing, in Fig. 226. Mulberry, § 2. Seeds. 252. A Seed is an ovule fertilized and matured, and with a germ or embryo formed in it. 253. In the account of the growth of plants from the seed, at the beginning of the book (Chapter I. Section I.), seeds have already been considered sufficiently SEEDS. 83 for our purpose. As the pupil advances farther in his botanical studies, he will learn much more about them, as well as about fruits and flowers, in'the Lessons in Botany, and other works. 254. A sced consists of its Coats and its Kernel. Besides the true seed-coats, which are those of the ovule, an outer loose covering, generally an imperfect one, is occasionally superadded while the seed is growing. Thisyis called an Aril. Mace is the aril of the nutmeg. The scarlet pulpy covering of the seeds of the Strawberry-tree and the Staff-tree or Waxwork is also an aril. 255. The Seed-Coats are commonly two, an outer and an inner; the latter gen- erally thin and delicate. The outer coat is sometimes close and even, and fitted to the kernel, as in Morning-Glory (Fig. 227); some- times it is furnished with a tuft of long hairs, as in Milkweed (Fig. 229), or else is covered with long woolly hairs, as in the Cotton-plant, where they form that most useful’ material, Cotton-wool. In some cases the outer coat is extended into a thin border or wing, as in the Trumpet-Creeper (Fig. 228). Catalpa-seeds have a fringe-like wing or tuft at each end. The seeds of Pines are winged at one end (Fig. 226). All these tufts and wings are contrivances for rendering such seeds buoyant, so that, when shed, they may be dispersed by the wind. Thistle-down, and the like, is a similar ‘con- trivance on the fruit or akene. 256. The seed is often supported by a stalk of its own, the Seed-stalk. Where the seed separates, it leaves a mark, called the Scar or Hilum. This is conspitu- ous in a bean and a pea, and is remarkably large in a horsechestnut. : 257. The Kernel is the whole body of the seed within the coats. It consists of the Embryo, and of the Albumen, when there is any. ‘ 258. The Albumen is a stock of prepared food, for the embryo to live upon at the outset, in those cases where it has not a similar supply laid up in its cotyledons (82-35, 45). In Fig. 17, 44, and 49, the seeds have albumen. In Fig. 25, 32, 40, and 42, they have none, but the whole kernel consists of 259. The Embryo, or rudimentary plantlet in miniature, the body in the seed which grows. To this the seed, the fruit, and the blossom are all subservient. The albumen of the seed, when there is any, is intended to nourish the embryo when it 84 HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED. grows, until it can provide for itself; the seed-coats to protect it, especially after it is'shed; the seed-vessel, to protect it and to nourish it while forming; the stamens and pistil, to originate it. *e 260. The embryo consists of its Radicle or original stemlet, from one end of which the root starts, from the other the stem is continued; also of one or more Cotyledons or Seed-leaves, and often of a Plumule or bud for continuing the stem upwards. How the embryo grows into a plant, was fully explained at the com- mencement of this book. Analysis of the Section. : 41. Tasue or. Kinps or Fruit. Paragr. ( 1. Srmpie: seed-vessels of one pistil, ‘ “ ‘ + 221 2. AGGREGATED: clusters of seed-vessels all of shove: same Howe ‘ 244 Fruits are 8. Accrssory: the flesh, &c. external to and separate from the pistil, 245-247 : 4, MULTIPLE: composed = the simple or accessory fruits of more than one flower, . : . . . . . 7 “ + 248 BERRY, 228 ( Fleshy Fruits (222), such as the : | PEro, 224 PomE, 225 Stone-Fruits, or the . ‘ ‘ * ‘ c Drupe, 226 Simple Fruits are ; aes ; a ( Indehiscent, 228, Nut, 231 | KEy, 233 | Dry Fruits, 227, 4 ( Of a Simple { FOLLICLE,235 Pistil, LecumE, 236 . CaPsuLyE, 237 Dehiscent, or Pods, 233, aha Compound Sevan sat Pistil, , SitcLtE, 241 l | Pyxis, 242 Multiple Fruits are Angiospermous, or closed, 219, 248. Gymnospermous, or naked-seeded, 218, 219, . P ie Cone, 250 §2. SrEps.— 252. What a seed is. 253. Its nature already considered. 254. Its parts; Aril occasionally met with. 255. Its coats, and the appendages, wings, &c. 256. Seed-stalk, and scar. 257. Kernel. 258. Albumen, sometimes present; its office. 259. Embryo, to which all the other parts of the seed, the fruit, and the flower are subservient. 260. Parts of the Embryo: Radicle, or Stem- let; Cotyledons, or Seed-leaves; Plumule, or Bud. CHA PIELER. cEE TL. WHY PLANTS GROW, WIAT THEY ARE MADE FOR, AND WHAT THEY DO 261. We have now become acquainted with all the organs of plants, both those concerned in their life and growth, or vegetation, and those concerned in multiplying their numbers, that is, in reproduction. The first being the root, stem, and leaves; the second, the flowers (essentially the stamens and pistils), with their result, fruiu and seed. We have learned, also, how plants grow from the seed, produce part after part, branch after branch, and leaf after leaf, and at length blossom and go to seed. We see that plants, with their organs, that is, ¢nstruments, are a kind of liv- ing machines at work; and it is now time to ask, How they operate, What they bring to pass, and IVhat 7s the object or the result of their doings. Such questions as these, young people, with their curiosity awakened, would be likely to ask, and they ought to be answered. To understand these things completely, one must know something of chemistry and vegetable anatomy,* — which we do not propose here to teach. But a general account of the matter may be given in a simple way, which shall be perfectly intelligible, and may give a clear idea of the purpose which plants were created to fulfil in the world, and how they do it. Let us begin by considering 262. The Plant in Action.. ‘Take any living plant, — it matters not what one, — and consider what it is doing. For greater simplicity, take some young plant or seedling, where vegetation goes on just as in a full-grown herb or tree, only on a smaller scale. The plant is 263. Absorbing, or drawing in what it lives upon, from the soil and the air. This is moisture, air, and other matters which the rain, as it soaks into the ground, may have dissolved on its way to the roots. It is by the roots, lodged in the damp soil, that most of the moisture which plants feed upon is taken in, and with this they always get some earthy matter. This earthy matter makes the ashes which are left after burning a piece of wood, a leaf, or any part of a plant. Moisture is * After studying this chapter, the pupil will be ready to learn more of the subject in the Lessons in Botany and Vegetable Physiology. Lessons 22, 28, 24, and 25 treat of Vegetable Anatomy; and Lesson 26, of the Plant doing its work. 86 WHY PLANTS GROW, also absorbed by the leaves, either from drops of rain or dew, or from the vapor of water in the air. Air is latgely absorbed by the leaves, and some aiso by the roots, either as dissolved in water, or else directly from the crevices and pores of the soil, which are filled with air. ; 264. Plants absorb their food by their surface. Animals have an internal cavity, —a stomach,—to hold their food; and from the stomach it is taken into the system. Plants have nothing of this kind. They absorb their food by their sur- face, —by the skin, as it were; and when very young and with the whole sur- face fresh and thin, by one part almost as much as another. But as they grow older and the skin hardens, they absorb mostly by their fresh rootlets and the tips of» the roots, and by the leaves, —the former spread out in the soil, the latter spread out in the air. For while the skin or bark of the older parts of the roots is hard- ening, new tips and rootlets are always forming in growing plants, with a fresh sur- face, which absorbs freely. And as to the leaves, they are renewed every year (even evergreens produce a new crop annually, and the old ones fall after a year or two); and the skin of every leaf, expecially that of the under side, is riddled with thousands of holes or little mouths (called Breathing-pores), which open into the chambers or winding passages of the pulp of the leaf, so that the air may cir- culate freely throughout the whole. 265. Plants absorb their food all in the fluid form. They are unable to take in anything in a solid state. They ¢mbibe or drink in all their food, in the form of water, with whatever the water has dissolved, and of air or vapor, by one or both of which their leaves and roots are surrounded. The reason they imbibe only fluid is this. The roots, leaves, and all the rest of the plant, under the microscope, are seen to be made up of millions of separate little cavities, each cut off from the surrounding ones by closed partitions of membrane. All that the plants take into their system has to pass through these partitions of membrane, — which fluid (air or moisture) alone can do. 266. The common juices of plants are called Sap. What they take in from the soil and the air, not being digested or made into vegetable matter, is called Crude Sap. All that the roots imbibe has to be carried up to the leaves to be digested there. So while the roots are absorbing, the stem is 267. Conveying the Crude Sap to. the Leaves, There is no separate set of vessels, and no open tubes or pipes for the sap to rise through in an unbroken stream, in the way people generally suppose. The stem is made up, like the root, of cavities, AND WHAT THEY DO. 87 or cells divided off by whole partitions; and to rise an inch the sap generally has to pass through several hundred such partitions. When there is much wood, the sap rises mostly through that. Now the fibres and the vessels of the wood are tubes, most of them several times longer than wide; but their ends do not open into each other; a closed partition divides each cavity from the next, which the sap has to get through some way or other. How it gets through so readily, we do not altogether know; but there is no doubt about the fact. 268. Carried into the leaves, and distributed through their broad surface, the crude sap is exposed to the light and air. A large part of it is water; and each drop of this serves to bring up a minute portion of earthy matter, which it dissolved out of the soil. Most of the water, no longer wanted, is evaporated from the leaves by the warmth of the sun, and exhaled; that is, it escapes in vapor into the air, mostly through the breathing-pores (264). What remains, the plant is at the same time 269. Digesting or Assimilating. Assimilating is the proper word. To assimilate is to make similar, or to turn into its own substance. This is just what plants do in their leaves. ‘They change into vegetable matter that which was mineral matter (air, earth, or water) before. This they do only in the leaves, or other green parts, and in these only when they are exposed to the light of day, that is, to the influ- ence of the sun. We see, therefore, why plants are so dependent on the light. They cannot grow without it, except so far as they are fed by vegetable matter prepared beforehand ;— as the seedling is fed at the beginning, by vegetable matter of the parent plant stored up in the seed (Chap. II. Sect. II.) ; and potato-shoots, by that provided in the tuber or potato (74, 75), &c. This enables them to begin their growth in the dark. But the inheritance only serves to set up the young plants; when they have exhausted it, they have to work for themselves, to take in air and water, and a little earth, and assimilate it, —i. e. make vegetable matter of it, —in their leaves or other green parts, with the help of sunshine. This they do throughout the whole growing season. 270. The new-made vegetable matter is dissolved in the water or the sap in the leaf, and forms a thin mucilage. This is prepared or Hlaborated Sap, fit to be used in growth; for it contains the same material as that which the plant itself is built of. It is to the plant just what the prepared clay is to the earthen vessel, or to the bricks of which the house is built. It has only to be conveyed where it is wanted and used for growing. 88 WHY PLANTS GROW, 271. Some Forms and Changes of Vegetable Matter. It may be used at once, or it may be stored up until it is wanted. In annual herbs, as already explained (68), nearly all of it is used for growth or for blossoming, as fast as it is made. In biennials, like the Beet, Carrot, and Turnip (70), a great part of it is stored up somewhere, generally in the root, and used the next year. In such perennials as the Potato, a part is laid up in the tubers (which are all of the plant that survives the winter), to begin a vigorous growth the next season. In shrubs and trees a part is annually deposited in the newest wood and bark, to be used for de- veloping the buds the next spring. In all, a portion is deposited, as we know, sometimes in the fruit, always in the seed, for the use of the embryo or new plant, at the beginning of its growth. 272. When vegetable matter is laid up for future use, a large part of it is gen- erally in the form of starch. Nearly the whole bulk of a potato, or of a grain of corn, is starch. This consists of little grains which are like mucilage solidified, and they may be turned into mucilage again. When the plant takes up a deposit of starch into its system, as fast as it dissolves it in the sap it generally changes it into sugar. Mucilage, starch, sugar, and plant-fabric, all have the same chemical com- position, or very nearly ; and the plant readily changes one into the other as it needs. Notice the changes of vegetable matter in a plant of Indian Corn. In the leaves, where it is made, the elaborated sap is in the form of mucilage; in the stalk, at flowering-time, while on its way to form and nourish the blossoms and grains, it turns sweet, being changed into sugar; in the grain, a part is changed into starch and laid up there: when the grain germinates, the starch is dissolved and changed back into sugar; and in the growing plantlet which it nourishes, the sugar is at length changed into plant-fabric. 278. Circulation or Conveyance of Elaborated Sap, or Dissolved Vegetable Matter. The new-made vegetable matter rarely accumulates in the leaves where it is made, ex- cept in the Century-plant, Houseleek (Fig. 65), and other fleshy-leaved plants. It is generally distributed through all the plant (that is, through all its living parts), or carried especially to where a stock is to be laid up, or where growth is taking place. So the elaborated sap, passing out of the leaves, is received into the inner bark, at least in trees and shrubs,—or in herbs it may descend through the soft parts generally,—and a part of what descends finds its way even to the ends of the roots, and is all along diffused laterally into the stem, where it meets and mingles with the ascending crude sap or raw material. So there is no separate AND WHAT THEY DO. 89 circulation of the two kinds of sap; and no crude sap exists separately in any part of the plant. Even in the root, where it enters, this mingles at once with some elaborated sap already there, and as it rises through the stem they mix more and more. But whatever is not assimilated must be, before the plant can use it; that which has been assimilated, can be used wherever it may be. 274. The elaborated sap, like the crude, is contained in the cavities, cells, or short closed tubes which make up the fabric of the plant, and circulates or passes from one to another through the partitions. How it passes through, and what at- tracts it where it is wanted, we do not very well know. And what we do know could not be well explained to the young beginner, for whom this book is written. The same may be said about 275. Growth. Growth is the increase of a living thing in size and substance. In plants it is done by the increase in the number of the cells (or cavities divided off by partitions) whigh make up the fabric, and by the increase of each in size to a certain extent. That is, growth is the building-up of the plant, or of additions to it, out of vegetable matter. And this vegetable matter was made in the leaves (either of the same plant or of its parent), out of mineral matter drawn from the earth and the air,— was mostly made of air and water. For the earthy part which is left behind when we burn a plant (and so turn all the vegetable matter back into air and vapor of water again) forms only a very small part of its bulk. 276. If the pupil would learn more particularly how growth takes place, and how plants change mineral into vegetable matter, they must study three or four les- sons of the Lessons in Botany already referred to. But our short and simple account of the plant in action, i. e. vegetating, is sufficient for answering the main question, viz. : — 277. What Plants do. Vegetation consists essentially of two things, namely, as- similation and growth. In assimilation plants are changing mineral matter — air, water, and a little earth —into vegetable matter; and in growth this vegetable matter is wrought into all manner of beautiful and useful forms. This is the work which the vast variety and infinite number of plants over all the earth are busily engaged in. It is thetr peculiar work ; for only plants can live upon (or assimilate) mineral matter; they only have the power of changing air, water, and earth into organic matter. 278. What is the effect of this action of plants, especially upon the air we breathe? And what becomes of all the vast amount of vegetable matter which 90 WHY PLANTS GROW, plants have been making, day by day, since God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, and the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed ts in itself, upon the earth,— and tt was so? The answer to these ques- tions will show us plainly 279. What Plants are made for. In the first place, in the very act of making vegetable matter, plants fulfil one great purpose of their existence, that is, 280. They purify the air for animals. ‘That part of the air which renders it fit for breathing is called oxygen ; this makes up about one fifth part of the air we breathe. At every breath animals take in some of this oxygen and change it into carbonic acid; that is, they combine the oxygen with carbon from their blood, which makes carbonic acid, and breathe out this carbonic acid into the air, in place of the oxygen they drew in. Now this carbonic acid is unfit for the breathing of ., animals,— so much s0, that, if it were to increase go as to make any considerable part of the atmosphere, man and other animals could not live in ig, But plants prevent the carbonie acid from accumulating in the air. While animals need the oxygen of the air, and in using it change it into carbonic acid, hurtful to them, plants need the carbon of this carbonic acid ; indeed, it makes a very large portion of their food, — as we plainly see it must, when we know that about half of every part of a plant is garbon, that is, charcoal. And this carbonic acid is the very part of the air that plants use; they constantly take it from the air, decompose it in their leaves during sunshine, keep the carbon, and give back the oxygen pure, so keeping the air fit for the breathing of animals. The carbon which plants take from the air in this way, along with water, &c., they assimilate, that is, change into vegetable matter : and in doing this 281. They make all the food which animals live upon. Animals cannot live upon air, water, or earth, nor are they able to change these into food which they may live upon. This work is done for them by plants. Vegetable matter in almost every form — especially as herbage, or more concentrated in the accumulations of nourishment which plants store up in roots, in bulbs-and tubers, in many stalks, in fruits, and in seeds — is food for animals. “ And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth,” as well as to men, is given “every green herb for meat.” Some animals take it by feeding directly upon vegetables; others, in feeding upon the flesh of herbivorous animals, receive what they have taken from plants. Man and a few other animals take in both ways what plants have prepared for them. But however received, and how- AND WHAT THEY ARE MADE FOR. 91 ever changed in form in the progress from plant to animal or from one animal to another, all the food and all the substance of all animals were made by plants. And this is what plants are made for. 282. Notice also that plants furnish us not merely needful sustenance, but almost every comfort and convenience. Medicine for restoring, as well as food for support- ing health and strength, mainly comes from plants. 283. They furnish all the clothing of man ;—not only what is made from the woolly hairs of certain seeds (cotton), or from the woody fibres of bark (dinen), and what is spun from Mulberry-leaves by the grubs of certain moths (as sik), but also the skin and the fur or wool of animals, owe their origin to plants, just as their flesh does. 284. They furnish utensils, tools, and building materials, in great variety ; and even the materials which the mineral kingdom yields for man’s service (such as iron) are unavailable without vegetables, to supply fuel for working and shaping them. 285. They supply all the fuel in the world ; and this is one special service of that vegetable matter which, in the solid form of wood, does not naturally serve for food. Burned in our fire-places, one part of a plant may be used to cook the food fur- nished by another part, or to protect us against cold; or burned under a steam-boiler: it may grind our corn, or carry us swiftly from place to place. Even the coal dug from the bowels of the earth is vegetable matter, the remains of forests and herbage which flourished for ages before man existed, and long ago laid up for his present use. We may proceed one step farther, and explain where the heat of fuel comes from; for even a child may understand it. Plants make vegetable matter only in the light, mostly in the direct light of the sun. With every particle of carbonic acid that is decomposed, and vegetable matter that is made, a portion of the sun’s heat and light is absorbed and laid up in it. And whenever this vegetable matter is decomposed, as in burning it, this heat and light (how much of each, depends upon the mode of burning) are given out. 286. So all our kghting as well as warming, which we do not receive directly from the sun, we receive from plants, in which sunlight has been stored up for our use. And equally so, whether we burn olive-oil or pine-oil of the present day, or candles made from old peat, or coal-gas, or lard, tallow, or wax, — the latter a vege- table matter which has been somewhat changed by animals. And, finally, 287. The natural warmth of the bodies of animals comes From the food they eat, and so ts supplied by plants. A healthy animal, no longer growing, receives into 92 WHY PLANTS GROW. his system a daily supply of food without any corresponding increase in weight, or often without any increase at all. This is because he decomposes as much as he receives. If a vegetable-feeder, far the greater part of his food (all the starch of grain and bread, the sugar, oil, &c.), after being added to the blood, is decomposed, and breathed out from the lungs in the form of carbonic acid and water. That is just what it would become if set on fire and burned, as when we burn oil or tallow in our lamps or candles, or wood in our fire-places; and in the process, in animals no less than in our lamps and fire-places, the heat which was absorbed from the sun, when the vegetable matter was produced from carbonic acid and water, is given out when this matter is decomposed into carbonic acid and water again. And this is what keeps up the natural heat of animals.) We are warmed by plants in the food we consume, as well as by the fuel we burn. 288. In learning, as we have done, How Plants Grow, and Why they Grow, have we not learned more of the lesson of the text placed at the beginning of this book, and of the verses that follow? “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, shall he not much more clothe you? .... Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed ? For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” And we now perceive that causing plants to grow is the very way in which He bounti- fully supplies these needs, and feeds, clothes, warms, and shelters the myriads of beings He has made, and especially Man, whom He made to have dominion over them all. CHAPTER IV HOW PLANTS ARE CLASSIFIED, NAMED, AND STUDIED. Section I. — Classification. 289. CiassirtcaTion in Botany is the arrangement of plants according to their kinds and according to their resemblances. 290. In order that the vegetable creation might be adapted to every soil, situa- tion, and climate, and to the different wants of the greatest variety of animals, as well as to the many peculiar needs of mankind, God created plants in a vast num- ber of kinds. And in order that these should be perpetuated and kept distinct, He ordained that each should yield fruit and seed “ after its kind.” So each sort of plant multiplies and perpetuates itself from generation to generation. Lach of these sorts is a 291. Species. ‘The individuals, or separate plants, of each sort represent that species, just as men and women represent the human species. The individuals of the same species are not always, or not commonly, exactly alike. They may differ in size according to their greater or less vigor; they may vary in the color of their blossoms, or the shape and flavor of their fruit, and yet plainly be of one species. It is very apt to be so in cultivated plants. The different sorts of Apples belong to one species; all the sorts of Pears are of one species; and so of Peaches. Such sorts, which have arisen in the course of time and under change of circumstances, are called VARIETIES. 292. Varieties may be kept up with certainty by propagating from buds, that is, by cuttings, grafts, offsets, and the like (Chap. II. Sect. I.), but not by seeds, — at least when left to themselves. And varieties have nothing definite about them, but shade off into one another; while the species are always separate. Apple-trees never vary into Pear-trees, nor Pear-trees into Quince-trees. The cultivator pays much attention to varieties, and takes particular pains to preserve and multiply them. To the botanist, who is concerned mainly with wild plants, they are of much less account. The botanist studies species. 293. According to their degrees of resemblance species form Genera, Orders or Families, and Classes. o4 HOW PLANTS ARE CLASSIFIED, 294. Genus: plural Genera, Species which are very much alike belong to the same genus. The genus is a group of species which have the flower and fruit constructed on exactly the same plan. The Cabbage and the Turnip belong to the same genus. ‘The different species of Raspberry and Blackberry belong to one genus, — the Bramble genus. The different species of Roses compose the Lose genus ; of Oaks, the Oak genus ; and so on. 295. An Order or Family (the two words meaning the same thing in Botany) is a kind of genus on a wider scale, consisting of genera, just as a genus consists of species. For example, while all the Oaks belong to the Oak genus, there are other trees which are a good deal like Oaks in the whole plan of their flowers, fruit, and seeds, so much so that we say they belong to the Oak family. Among them are the Chestnut, the Beech, and the Hazel; each a genus by itself, containing several species. So the Pear genus, the Quince genus, the Hawthorn genus, the Rose genus, and the Bramble genus, with many more, belong to one great order. The Pea genus, the Bean genus, the Locust genus, the Clover genus, and the like, make up another order. 296. A Class is a great group of orders or families, all on the same general plan. The Rose family, the Oak family, and a hundred others, all belong to one great class. Lilies, Amaryllises, Irises, Palms, Rushes, and Grasses belong to another great class. 297. There are other divisions; but these are the principal ones in all classifi- cations, both of the vegetable and of the animal kingdom. And these four stages always rank in this way: the species under the genus, the genera under the order or family, and orders under the class, viz. : — Crass, ORDER oR Famity, GENUs, SPECIES. Section II. — Names. 298 Tne name of any plant is the name of its genus and of its species. The name of the genus answers to the surname or family name of people, as Smith or Brown. The name of the species answers to the baptismal name, as John or James. We distinguish persons by these two names, as John Smith and James Smith ; John NAMED, AND STUDIED. 95 Brown and James Brown, &c. In the same way, we name a plant by giving the name of the genus along with that of the species; as White Oak, Red Oak, Water Oak. Here the first word is the name of the species, which is nothing by itself, but joined to the second word, which is the name of the genus, it designates the species of Oak; and the two together completely name the plant we mean. These are 299. Popular Names, or the common names in our own language. Plants also have truly Scventifie Botanical Names, which are the same in all countries. On this account they are in Latin. Some of them are the ancient Latin or Greek names; others are words made in later times, but all are in Latin form. Thus, the scientific name of the Oak genus is Quercus; of the Ash genus, Fraxinus ; of the Rose genus, Rosa; of the Pear genus, Pyrus; of the Bramble or Blackberry genus, Rubus, &c. The names of some genera are in honor of botanists or discov- erers ; as, Linnea, named in honor of Linneus ; Magnolia, after Magnol; Kalmia, after Kalm, a pupil ot Linnaeus, who travelled in this country ; Claytonia, after Clayton, a botanist of Virginia. 300. In the Latin or scientific name, that of the genus comes before the species. So the scientific name of the White Oak is Quercus alba; of Red Oak, Quercus rubra; of Water Oak, Quercus aquatica. In fact, these are just the popular names turned into Latin. It is not always so; for what we call Post Oak is botanically named Quercus obtusiloba, which means an Oak with blunt lobes to the leaves. And our White Ash is Fraxinus Americana, meaning “ American Ash”; Red Ash is Fraxinus pubescens, meaning “ Downy Ash”; Black Ash is Fraxinus sambuct- folia, meaning “Elder-leaved Ash.” But our Green Ash is Fraxinus viridis, which means the same thing as the common name. 301. The name of the genus is a substantive. That of the species is generally an adjective; as, viridis, green; sambuctfolia, Elder-leaved ; Americana, Ameri- can; aquatica, growing in water; and so forth. 302. Accordingly, any plant is named in two words, that is, by giving the name of its genus and of its species. 303. The names of the class, order, &c. make no part of the name of the plant itself. And these names differ in different systems of classification, while those of the genus and species are the same in all systems. 7 96- HOW PLANTS ARE CLASSIFIED, Section III.— The Natural System. 304. There are two kinds of classification in Botany, viz. Natural and Artificial. They differ in the way the genera are arranged in orders, classes, &c. 305. An Artificial Classification is one in which plants are arranged for conven- ience of reference, or for finding out their names, without any particular care for bringing like things together. Tournefort made an artificial classification of plants by their flowers, mainly by their corolla, which was in common use in the last cen- tury until Linneus contrived a better one, in which the classes and orders were founded upon the number, position, &c. of the stamens and pistils. This was in general use for many years. But now we use artificial classifications only in the form of Tables or Analyses, as a key for finding out the family a plant we are studying belongs to, and so readily referring it to its place in 306. The Natural System, In this system plants are classified according to their relationships, that is, according to their resemblances in all” respects. The most important resemblances are used for the classes, &c.; the most important after these for the orders; more particular ones mark the genera; and matters of shape, pro- portion, color, &e. mark the species. So the whole together forms a system, in which all known plants are to be ranked in their natural order, each standing next those which it is most like in all respects; the whole forming, as it were, a great map, in which the classes and other great divisions might answer to countries, the orders to counties, and the genera to towns or parishes. 307. Such a system is not a mere convenience for ascertaining the name of a plant, but is an illustration, as far as may be, of the plan of the Creator in the vegetable kingdom. And the Botanist sees as much to admire, and as plain evi- dences of design, in the various relations of the species of plants to each other (i. e. in their resemblances and their differences), as he does in the adaptation of one part of a plant to another, and in the various forms under which any one organ may appear. The different kinds of plants are parts of a great whole, like the members of a body, or the pieces of an harmonious but complex edifice or struc- ture; and this whole is the Vegetable Kingdom. 808. What the main divisions in the system are, may be gathered from what is stated in several places in Part I. In the first place, the whole vegetable kingdom divides into two great Series or Grades,—a higher and a lower. The higher series contains all NAMED, AND STUDIED. 97 -FLOWERING or PH#Nnocamous Pants, namely, those that are propagated by means of real flowers, producing seeds, which contain an embryo ready formed. The lower series consists of FLowERLEss orn Cryprocamous Prants, which produce no real flowers and no true seeds, but only something of a simpler sort, answering to flowers and giv- ing rise to spores,which serve the purpose of sceds. 309. This has been explained in Chapter II. Section II. p. 58. Next, the . great series of Flowering Plants is divided into two Classes. These classes are distinguishable by the stem, the leaves, the flower, and the embryo or germ of the seed. They are: — Class I. Exocrns, or DicotyLepons (more fully named, Hxogenous or Di- cotyledonous Plants). Plants of this class, as to their stems, have the wood all between a separate pith in the centre and a bark on the surface, and each year the stem lives, it forms a new layer of wood on the surface of that of the previous year (111, 115-118). As to the leaves, they are netted-veined or reticulated, the veins branching and forming meshes (126, 127). As to the flowers, their parts are gen- erally in fives or fours (or the double or treble of these numbers), very rarely in threes. As to the embryo, or germ, it always has a pair of cotyledons or seed- leaves (48), or sometimes more than a pair (49). Class II. Enpocens, or MonocoryLepons (or more fully, Endogenous or Monocotyledonous Plants). Plants of this class, as to their stems, have their wood in threads mixed with the pith and scattered throughout every part, never forming layers, and the bark is never to be peeled off clean from the wood (112-114). The leaves are almost always parallel-veined (127-129). The flowers have their parts in threes (or twice three), very rarely in twos or fours, never in fives, which is much the commonest number in the other class. And the embryo has but one cotyledon or seed-leaf (47, 50). 810. So the class of any plant may be told from a piece of its stem alone; or from a single leaf, in most cases; or from a blossom; or from a seed; or from the plantlet as it springs from the seed, and in its first leaves shows the nature of the embryo. The seeds generally are not easy to study without a dissecting micro- scope, nor can we always have them growing. But the student will hardly ever fail to tell the class at once, by the stem, the leaves, or the flowers, and by the whole look of the plant. 811. The first Class divides into two Subclasses, of very unequal size, viz. : — 98 HOW PLANTS ARE CLASSIFIED, Subclass I. Anciosrerms (or Angtospermous Plants), which have pistils” of the common sort, in which the seed is formed and contained (16, 219). This takes all of the first class except the Pine family, and one or two small orders little known in this country. These form the Subclass II. Gymnosperms, that is, Gymnospermous or Naked-seeded Plants (218, 250). Here the ovules and seeds are naked, there being no pistil at all, as in the Yew, or only an open scale that answers to it, as in Pines, Cedars, &e. 312. The first class contains about a hundred common orders or natural fam- ilies; the second not half so many. 313. The lower or second series, that of Flowerless or Cryptogamous Plants, divides into three classes, viz. :— Class I. Acrocens, which includes the Fern family, the Horsetail family, and the Club-moss family. Class IV. Anopuytes, which consists of the orders of Mosses and Liverworts. Class V. TuaLLopuytes, which includes Lichens, the Alge or Seaweeds, and the Fungi or Mushroom family. 814. But Flowerless plants, being too difficult for the beginner, need not be further mentioned here. 315. The orders or families in the natural system are pretty numerous. They are named, in general, after some well-known genus which may be said to repre- sent the family. Thus the order to which the Rose belongs is called the Rose family ; that to which Crowfoots or Buttercups belong, the Crowfoot family ; that to which Cress and Mustard belong, the Cress family; the Oak gives its name te the Oak family, the Birch to the Birch family, the Pine to the Pine family, and so on. Their Latin or scientific names are also generally made from the Latin name of a leading or well-known genus. For example, Rosa, the Rose, gives its name to the Rose family, viz. Rosacee, meaning Rosaceous plants; Ranun- culus, the Crowfoot genus, gives to its family the name of Ranunculacee ; and Papaver, the Poppy, gives to its family that of Papaveracee ; Berberis, the Bar- berry, that of Berberidacee ; and so on. 816. The student’s principal difficulty at the beginning will be to find out the order or family to which a plant belongs. This is because the orders are so numer- ous, and commonly not to be certainly distinguished by any one point. But after some practice, the order will be as easy to make out as the class; and in many cases it will be known at a glance by the strong family likeness to some plant which has been examined before. NAMED, AND STUDIED. 99 317. Let us now introduce our pupils to the Popular Flora, by which they may study the common plants they meet with, and find out their structure and their names. Section IV.— How to study Plants by the Popular Flora. 318. Directions for gathering Specimens to Examine, Gather specimens with flowers, flower-buds, and also with fruits, either forming or full grown, when all these are to be had at the same time, as they frequently are, at least in herbs, except in spring. Sometimes the remains of last year’s fruit are to be found, enough to tell what the kind of fruit was. Very often the nature of the fruit can be told before- hand, from the pistil, either at flowering-time or soon after. However, most of our common plants may be made out from the blossoms and leaves only. Small herbs should be taken up by the roots. 319. Specimens which are to be kept for some time, or carried to some distance before they are studied, should be put at once into a close-shutting tin box, where they will keep long without withering. Botanical boxes are made for the purpose. A. candle-box, or any tin box with a lid, and of convenient size for carrying, will answer. 820. For examining Plants to make out the structure of the flowers, fruits, &c., the instruments most needed are, — A sharp, thin-bladed pocket-knife, such as a common penknife, for making sec- tions or slices; A pair of small forceps, which, although not always necessary, are very conven- ient for holding little parts ; and A hand microscope or magnifying-glass, such as may be purchased for a dollar or less. A single glass, mounted in horn, or in metal, and (for carrying in the pocket) shutting into a case of the same material, which serves as a handle when open, is the commonest and best for our purpose. A stand-microscope is a most convenient thing, when it can be had. This has a glass stage under the lens or magnifying-glass, on which small flowers, or their parts, may be laid. This leaves both hands free for dissecting or displaying the minute parts, with needles mounted in handles, while the eye is examining them under the microscope. Common needles, mounted in the bone handles used for holding crochet needles, are very convenient, and cost little. A compound 100 HOW PLANTS ARE CLASSIFIED AND STUDIED. microscope, however necessary for studying vegetable anatomy, is of no use for our common botanical purposes, which require no high magnifying. A pocket magni- fying-glass, held in the hand, is all that is absolutely necessary. 821. Lessons in examining Plants, Jlow a pupil, or a class, is to proceed in examining any plant by our Popular Flora, for the purpose of finding out its class, its order or family, and then its genus and species, —that is, its name, — we will show by a few plain examples. 322. Technical words or terms are used all along, which you may not remember the meaning of, as defined in the first part of the book; and some of them may not have been mentioned or explained there. Whenever you come to a word which you do not perfectly understand, tarn at once to the Index and Dictionary, begin- ning on page 217, and look it out. There you will find it explained, or will be referred to the page of the book where the term is explained or illustrated. Turn back to the place, and read what is said about it. Do not attempt to proceed fast- er than you understand things. But by looking out and understanding the words as you meet with them, the principal terms used in botanical descriptions (here made as simple as possible) will soon be familiar, and your subsequent progress will be all the more rapid for the pains taken in the earlier steps. 323. For the first example we will take a Buttercup or Crowfoot, such as may anywhere be met with in spring and early summer. With specimens in hand, turn to page 105. You ask in the first place, — Does the plant belong to the First Series, that of Phanogamous or Flowering Plants? Certainly; for it bears flowers, with stamens and pistils. (The Second Series, that of Flowerless Plants (p. 97), consisting of Ferns, Mosses, &e., we do not meddle with in this book, they requiring too much magnifying, and: being too difficult for the young beginner.) Next you ask, — To which class does it belong? The differences between the two classes are mentioned on page 97, and the characteristics of Class I. are illustrated on page 105. As the stem is hollow, it may not be easy to sce that it has a delicate ring of wood under the bark and outside of the pith (as in Fig. 230); but this may be perceived in a cross slice under the microscope. And even if we had ripe seeds, a microscope and some skill in dissection would be required to take out the minute embryo, and see that it has a pair of cotyledons. But we may tell the class by the two other points, viz. by the leaves, and by the number of parts to the blossom. The leaves are plainly netted-veined, and the parts of the flower, that is, the sepals HOW TO USE THE POPULAR FLORA. 101 and the petals, are five. So the plant belongs to Class I. Proceed then with the “Key to the Families or Orders of Class I.” on page 106. This class has two subclasses. So you next ask, — To which subclass does the plant belong, to Angiosperms or to Gymnosperms ? For the character of the Gymnosperms, see the end of the Key, at the foot of page 111; that of Angiosperms begins the Key. The centre of the flower we are examining is occupied with a great number of small one-seeded pistils, each tipped with its short style and stigma; and the ovary is a closed bag containing an ovule or young seed. So the plant clearly belongs to Subclass J. Proceed then with the Key; which leads you next to ask, — To which division does the plant belong, —the Polypetalous ? (in black letters immediately under the subclass), or the Monopetalous? (top of page 109), or the Apetalous? (lower part of page 110). Plainly to the first or Polypetalous division ; for there is both a calyx and a corolla, and the latter is of five separate petals. This division, in the Key, subdivides into, “A. Stamens more than 10,” and “B. Stamens 10 or fewer” (p. 107). Our plant has many stamens, and so falls under the head A. This head subdivides into three (marked 1, 2, 3), by differences as to where and how the stamens are borne. Pull off the calyx and the corolla, or split a flower through the middle lengthwise (as in Fig. 238), and you will plainly see that the stamens stand on the receptacle, under the pistils, unconnected either with the calyx or the corolla. So the plant falls under the head 1. Under this is an analysis of some of the characters (i. e. distinguishing marks) of the fifteen or sixteen families which belong here. The lines that are set 7n are subdivisions under the longer line above them. The lines which rank directly un- der one another (and begin with the same ov a corresponding word) make alter- natives, among which you are to choose that with which your plant agrees. In this instance the lines of the first rank here begin with the word “ Pistils” or “Pistil,” and there are five of them. Try the first: “Pistils more than one, entirely separate from each other.” That is the case with our plant. Under this line, in the next rank, is a triplet, or a choice between three. Our plant is an “herb, with perfect flowers,” and so falls under the first line. Under this is a couple of equivalent lines, relating to the leaves. Our plant agrees not with the second, but with the first of these; and that line ends with the English name of the family we are seeking for, viz. the Crowroot Famixy, and refers to page 112, where this family is described. ” 102 HOW PLANTS ARE CLASSIFIED AND STUDIED. Turn now to the account of this family, and read over the descriptive marks given, to see if you have been led to a right conclusion. The description agrees, as far as it goes. Knowing the family, you now ask, — To what genus of this family does the plant belong? The genus gives the principal name of the plant; so this is the same as asking, What is the plant’s name? Now, in every family which has several genera or kinds under it, we have a key to the genera, like that which we have just used under the class to find out the family. Try the key, then, under this family, to find out the genus. This key begins with a pair of lines, viz. “Climbing plants,” &c., and “ Not climbing,” &c. Our plant agrees with the latter. Under this, in the next rank, is a pair of lines, beginning with “ Pistils” (the second line of the pair is the sixth on p. 113). You perceive that our plant falls under the first. Under this is the line beginning “ Petals none.” Our flower has petals; so pass on to the other one of the pair, which is the fifth line on p. 113. This reads “ Petals present as well as sepals, the latter falling off early” (which agrees) ; and leads to the name of the genus, i. e. “ (Ranunculus) Crowroor.” The first name, in parentheses and in Italic type, is the scientific or Latin name of the genus; the other, in small capitals, is the popular English name of the genus. When we have only one species to the genus, we do not in this book proceed farther. But there are many Crowfoots, so you next inquire, — What is the species? Look on, till you come to the name of the genus in dark letters, on p. 114. Here a few more marks of the Crowfoot genus are given; and then the marks of ten common species of Crowfoot follow, under several heads. We are supposed to have in our hands one of the two large yellow-flowered species, com- monly called Buttercups. Compare the specimens with the divisions marked by stars. It cannot belong to that with one star, for the petals are not white; it does belong to that with two stars, for the petals are yellow, and bear a little scale on the inside just above the bottom. Under this are two divisions, marked with dag- gers. Not growing under water, our plant belongs to that marked + +. Under this are two further divisions, marked ++ and ++ ++: our plant, having the “petals much longer than the calyx,” belongs to the second of these. Under this head are four species. The English name is given at the beginning of the line, in small capital letters ; a short description follows, and the scientific or Latin name is appended, in Italic letters, at the end. Here the R. of course stands for Ranunculus. A comparison with the description will show which species it is HOW TO USE THE POPULAR FLORA. 103 that we happen to have. If a field plant flowering in May, and with a bulbous base of the stem just underground, it is the BuLBous Crowroor or Buttercup, or in Latin, &. bulbosus. If the taller species, without a bulb, and flowering in summer (which is the most common kind throughout the country), it is TALL Crowroot or Burrercup, or R. acris. Waving in this way made out one Crowfoot, you will be sure to know any other one as soon as you see it, and will only have to find out the species, comparing your specimen with the descriptions, on p. 114. 324. Suppose, for the next example, you have specimens, with flowers and young fruit, of a common plant in wet grounds in spring, here called Cowslip, though this is not its correct English name. With specimens in hand, turn to p. 109. To which class does it belong? Its netted-veined leaves (and the structure of the stem, as seen in a slice under a good magnifying-glass) plainly refer it to Class I. You next ask, — To which subclass? The pistils and pods plainly refer it to Subclass I. To which division? At first view you may think it has a corolla; but there is no calyx outside of these yellow leaves of the flower, even in the bud. So you will conclude that these leaves are the calyx, notwithstanding their rich color and petal- like appearance ; and you will turn to the Apetalous division, on p. 110. Continue the analysis under that division. The flowers are separate, and “not in catkins”; so it falls under A. The seeds are numerous in each ovary or pod ; so it falls under No.1. The “calyx is free from the ovary,” according to the second of the first pair of lines. So you have only to choose between the three lines of the triplet under this, beginning with “Pod.” As the pistils and pods are one-celled and simple, we are brought to the name {Crowroot Faumiry, p. 112. The mark f denotes that you have ‘in this case an apetalous plant belonging to a family in which the flowers generally have petals. You turn to this family, p. 112, and proceed as before. You are led along the same track, until you reach the line “ Pistils many or several, becoming akenes in fruit.” Your flowers have a number of pistils, but these contain numerous seeds, and make pods in fruit, as in Fig. 240. So you pass on to the other line of the couplet, which reads, “ Pistils more than one-seeded, becoming pods”; which agrees with the plant in hand. The first line in the next rank reads: “Sepals petal-like, not falling when the flower first opens ” (so it is in your plant); and, of the four lines of the next rank, you can take only the first: “ (Sepals) golden-yellow: petals none: leaves rounded, not 104 HOW PLANTS ARE CLASSIFIED AND STUDIED. cut.” This brings you to the name of the genus, —in Latin or scientific form, Caltha ; in English, Marsu-Maricoup. Being the only species, we need go no farther with it. 325. On reflection and comparison, you will perceive the family likeness between the Marsh-Marigold and the Crowfoot, different as they are in some particulars; and between these and the Globe-flower, the Gold-thread, the Anemony, and even the Larkspur and Aconite, when you have studied these plants. But the family likeness is not quite so strong at first view in this family as it is in most others. 326. Another example we will take from the plant figured on p. 5 and the fol- lowing pages (Fig. 4-19), a very common ornamental twiner about houses, flow- ering all through the summer. Begin, as before, on p. 105. You perceive at once that the plant belongs to Class I.; for it has netted-veined leaves, the parts of the flower are in fives, and the embryo (which is easily extracted from the fresh seed, Fig. 16-19) has a pair of seed-leaves. There is a regular pistil, and the seeds in a pod; so the plant belongs to Subclass I. There is both calyx and corolla, the latter of one piece ; so the plant belongs to the Monopetalous division, p. 109. The corolla is borne on the receptacle below the ovary ; so you pass to the head B. The sta- mens are just as many as the lobes, or rather here the plaits, of the corolla; so you pass No. 1, and take No. 2. The stamens stand before the plaits, so that they would be alternate with the divisions of the corolla, if it were not that the five petals it consists of are united to the very top; so you take the second of the two lines com- mencing with the word “Stamens.” These are “inserted on the corolla,” and are entirely separate and “free from the stigma”; so you take the fourth line of those in the next rank. There is a style (p. 110); so the plant falls under the second of the two lines of the next rank. The ovary and pod have 3 cells; so it falls under the third of the lines beginning with the word “ Ovary.” The stamens are 5, and the pod few-seeded (2 seeds in each cell); so it falls under the third of the lines beginning with “Stamens.” The plant twines, and the seeds are large; so you are brought to the name of the family, the Convotvutus Fanny, and are referred to p- 184. Read over the marks of the family, and then search for the genus in the key or arrangement; and you will find that the name of the genus is, in scientific language, Jpomea, in popular English, Mornine-Grory. 327. One more example, to show how plants are to be studied by the Flora, will be sufficient. Take the Lily of the Valley (Fig. 3 on p. 1), which in this country adorns almost every flower-garden. HOW TO USE THE POPULAR FLORA. 104! 328. With plants in hand, turn to p. 105, and compare with the distinguishing marks of Class I. A slice across the stem shows no ring of wood around a pith. The leaves are not netted-veined. The parts of the flower are not in fives or fours, but in sixes, that is, twice threes. So the plant does not agree with Class J. in any respect. Turn therefore to Class IL, on p. 203. Examining slices of the stem with a magnifying-glass, you may find threads of wood interspersed in the cellular part or pith. The leaves are parallel-veined (Fig. 502, 503). The flowers have their parts in threes or twice threes; i. e. the cup of the blossom has six lobes, and there are six stamens; and, although there is only one pistil, the stigma is three-lobed and the ovary has three cells, showing that it is composed of three pistils grown into one. So, without looking for the embryo in a ripe seed, which is not often to be had, you are sure the plant belongs to Class Il. Enpocens or MonocoryLepons. 329. To find out the family or order the plant belongs to, try the Key. There are three divisions of the class. First, the Spadiceous, which has the flowers ses- sile on a spadix or fleshy axis. Not so with the plant in hand, which has drooping blossoms in a slender raceme. Pass on, therefore, to the second or Petalotdeous division. In this the flowers are not on a spadix, nor enclosed in chaffy bracts or glumes, and they have a calyx and corolla, or a perianth colored like a corolla. Our plant belongs to this division. The first line under it reads: “ Perianth free from the ovary”; this is the case in our plant. Proceed to the next rank: “Of 3 green or greenish sepals and 3 distinct and colored petals.” Not so in our eplant; so we pass to the corresponding line: “ Of 6 petal-like leaves in two ranks, or 6-lobed and all colored alike.” Here our plant belongs. Proceed to the two lines under this, beginning with the word “Stamens.” Our flowers have six stamens; so we take the second line of the pair. Pass to the two lines of the next rank, beginning with “ Anthers.” These in our plant are turned inwards: so we take the second line of the pair, and are led to the Lily Family, p. 209. Turn to that page: read over the marks of the family, and go on to ascertain the genus. Having few seeds or ovules in the ovary, small flowers, and running rootstocks, we find our plant to agree with the first line of the key to the genera of the Lily Family. The simple and naked scape or flower-stalk from the ground, &c. accords with the third line of the next rank; and the flowers in a raceme answer to the first of the two lines under that. And this brings us to the name of the genus, viz. in Latin form, Convallaria ; in English, Liry oF THE VALLEY, — the only species of the genus. 104? HOW PLANTS ARE CLASSIFIED AND STUDIED. 330. Signs and Abbreviations used in the Popular Flora, These are very few and easily understood. The signs for degrees (°), minutes (‘), and seconds (’) are used for size or height ; the first for feet, the second for inches, and the third for lines or twelfths of an inch. Accordingly 1° or 2° means one or two feet long or high, as the case may be. And 1’ or 2/ means one or two inches long or high. And 1” or 2” means one or two lines or twelfths of an inch long. An asterisk or star before the name of a genus —as * FENNEL-FLOWER and * Peony on p. 113, or * Ravisn, * Turnip, * Canpyturt, &e. on p. 125 — denotes that there are no wild species of that genus in this country, but they are to be met with only as cultivated plants. § This mark stands for section of a genus, or a subgenus, i. e. a section almost distinct enough for a genus. See under Magnolia, p. 117; also p. 147, where Pyrus, § Sorbus, and Pyrus, § Malus, &c. denote that Sorbus and Malus are only sections or subgenera of the genus Pyrus. To save room, the name of the genus generally is not printed in full under each species. So, under Virgin’s Bower, p. 113, the first species, WiLp VirGin’s Bowen, is given in full. In the second, “Sweet V.” stands for Sweet Virgin’s Bower. Also, as to the scientific name, “C. Flammula” stands for Clematis F'lam- mula, — and so elsewhere. N., S., E., and W., which are occasionally added after the description of a species, stand for North, South, East, and West, and indicate the part of the coun- try where the plant naturally grows. For example, the LoNG-rruITED ANEMONY, p- 114, is found North and West (N. and W.), &c. When there is no such refer- ence, the species may be found in almost any part of the Northern United States. Fl. is an abbreviation for flowering, or sometimes for flower. P. 115, line 1, &e. “ Fl. spring,” means flowering in spring, “ Fl. summer,” line 8, means flowering in summer. Cult. is an abbreviation for cultivated. Accents. Inthe Latin or scientific names, the syllable upon which the accent falls is marked with a’ or. When the accented vowel has a long sound, it is marked *; as Anemone, p. 115, Aconttum, p. 116. When the vowel has the short sound, itis marked’; as Olématis and Hepditica, p. 115. All Latin or Latinized names, when of only two syllables, take the accent on the first syllable, and therefore do not need to be marked. Hurt Secon. POPULAR FLORA, A CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE COMMON PLANTS OF THE COUNTRY, BOTH WILD AND CULTIVATED, UNDER THEIR NATURAL ORDERS. A F ora is a botanical account of the plants of a country or district, with the orders or families systematically arranged under the classes, the genera under the orders, and the species (when there are more than one) under the genus they be- long to,— along with the characters of each class, order, genus, &c.; that is, an enumeration of the principal and,surest marks, or some of them, by which they are to be distinguished. A full Flora of all the plants which grow in this country, including those in common cultivation, would at the least fill a large volume; and would be both too expensive and too unwieldy for the young beginner. The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States (including Virginia and Ken- tucky, and extending west to the Mississippi River) is a volume of over 600 pages, or 700, including the Mosses. And this work does not include foreign plants culti- vated in our fields or gardens, except those that have run wild in some places. ' The Porutar Ftiora, which occupies the rest of this book, is for the use of beginners, and is made as brief, simple, and easy as possible. For greater facility in the study, it includes only the common wild plants of the country (especially of the Northern States), and those ordinarily cultivated in our fields or gardens, for use or ornament. The families or genera which are too difficult for young begin- ners, such as Grasses, Sedges, the large family of plants with compound flowers (the Sunflower Family), and the like, are altogether omitted or only briefly 1044 POPULAR FLORA. alluded to. So also are the Cryptogamous or Flowerless Plants, as already mentioned. To save room, when there is only one species, or only one common species, to a genus, we do not proceed any farther with it than to the name of the genus, both scientific and popular. Under the species the English or popular name is placed foremost, in small capi- tals; the scientific or Latin name at the end. ‘The scientific names throughout are printed in italic letters. Full instructions for using the Flora in studying plants are given in Chapter IV. Section IV.; at the close of which, the few abbreviations and signs employed are explained. Classes and other great Divisions. Page Series I. FLOWERING orn PHASNOGAMOUS PLANTS, 105 Crass I. EXOGENS or DICOTYLEDONS, 105 Supcutass I. ANGIOSPERMS, 106 Potyperatovus Division, 106 — 160 Monoretatous Division, 161-189 APpETALOUS Drvisron, 190 — 200 Suscrass Il. GYMNOSPERMS, 201 Crass II. ENDOGENS or MONOCOTYLEDONS, 208 Spapiceous Drvisron, , 205 — 206 PetaLore£ous Drviston, 206 — 215 GuuMmaceous Division, 215 — 216 Series JI. FLOWERLESS or CRYPTOGAMOUS PLANTS, 216 Ciass III. ACROGENS, 216 Crass IV. ANOPHYTES, 216 Crass V. THALLOPHYTES, 216 POPULAR FLORA. SERIES 1f. FLOWERING OR PHANOGAMOUS PLANTS. Prants which produce real Flowers (or Stamens and Pistils) and Seeds. — See Part I. Paragr. 164, 166. CLASS I.—EXOGENS OR DICOTYLEDONS. Stem composed of pith in the centre, a separate bark on the surface, and de wood between the two, of as many rings or layers as the stem is years old. Leaves netted-veined, that is, with some of the veins or veinlets run- ning together so as to form meshes of Exogenous stem of the first eat net-work or reticulations. _ lowers with their parts most commonly in fives or fours, very seldom in threes. Embryo dicotyledonous, i.e. of a pair of seed- 232. Netted-veined leaves of Maple. Embryos of, 233, Sugar-Mapie ; 231, 235. Morning-Glory ; 236. Cherry. leaves, or in the Pines and the like often polycotyledonous, that is, of more than one pair. — The class may be told by the stems and leaves without gxamining the 106 POPULAR FLORA. seeds ; but embryos are represented in the figures, to show the student what is meant. — For the other class, see p. 203. KEY TO THE FAMILIES OR ORDERS OF CLASS I. Suscuass I]. — ANGIOSPERMS. With a regular pistil, and a seed-vessel in which the seeds are formed. See Paragr. 219, 311. I. Polypetalous Division. Calyx and corolla both present ; the petals entirely separate. A. STAMENS MORE THAN 10. 1. Stamens on the receptacle, unconnected either with the calyx, corolla, or ovary. Pistils more than one, entirely separate from each other. Herbs, with perfect flowers. Page Leaves not shield-shaped, generally cut, toothed, or compound, Crowroor Famity, 112 Leaves shield-shaped, fixed by their middle, WATER-SHIELD, 121 Myooay vines, with dicecious flowers, shield-shaped leaves fixed near the edge, MounsreEpD F. 118 Small trees with perfect flowers, 6 petals, and entire leaves, CusTARD-APPLE F. 118 Pistils many, grown together one above or over another on a long receptacle, Maenotta F. 117 Pistils several, sunk in the flat top of a broad receptacle, NELUMBO, 121 Pistils 3 to 6, the ovaries partly grown together in a circle, making - A bladdery pod of several cells, « Fennel-flower in Crowroor F. 112 A several-horned one-celled pod, MIGNONETTE F. 125 Pistil only one, at least having only one ovary; and that Simple and one-celled, only one placenta or seed-bearing part. Petals 6 to 9, large. Leaves 1 or 2, many-lobed, May-Applein Barberry F. 119 Petals 4 and irregular, or else very small,, Crowroor F, 112 Compound, with many seeds on a placenta from the bottom of the cell, PuRSLANE F. 180 Compound, if one-celled, then with two or more seed-bearing lines on the walls. Calyx falling when the flower opens; sepals fewer than the petals, . Poppy F. 122 Calyx falling after blossoming. Style 1: ovary several-celled. The 5 sepals edge to edge in the bud. Fruit dry, 1-seeded, , LinpDeEn F. 183 The sepals overlapping in the bud. Fruit many-celled, ORANGE F, 184 Calyx remaining beneath the fruit. Leaves with transparent or dark colored dots, all opposite, St. Jonn’s-wort F. 128 Leaves not dotted. Ovary and pod one-celled, Cistus F. 127 Leaves not dotted. Ovary several-celled. Aquatic or bog plants. Leaves pitcher-shaped. Style umbrella-like, SIDESADDLE-FLOWER F, 121 Leaves rounded and heart-shaped. Style none, Warer-Liny F. 120 2. Stumens connected with the bottom of the petals, and these borne on the receptacle. Filaments united in a pretty long tube or column: anthers kidney-shaped, one-celled, MAvuow F. 181 Filaments united only with the base of the petals: anthers oblong, two-celled, CamMELLIA F, 132 KEY TO THE FAMILIES OF CLASS I. 3. Stamens borne on the calyx, or where the calyx (when coherent) separates from the ovary. Petals many, in several rows. Shrubs with opposite simple leaves and dingy-purple flowers, CAROLINA-ALLSPICE F, Leafless fleshy plants, of singular shapes, Cactus F. Water-plants, with the large flowers and leaves floating on the surface, Warrr-Lity F. Petals 4 or 5, rarely 6. Leaves with stipules, alternate, Rose F. Leaves without stipules. Pods many-seeded. Style and stigma one. Pod surrounded by the free calyx, LyTHRum F. Styles or stigmas 3 to 8. Calyx coherent below with the ovary. Shrubs: leaves opposite. Pod with several cells. Philad*Iphus in SAxIFRAGE F. Herbs: leaves fleshy. Pod one-celled, opening by a lid, PURSLANE F, B. Sramens 10 oR FEWER. 1. Corollairregular. (Pistil one.) Leaves opposite, palmately compound. Calyx 5-toothed. Shrubs or trees, HorsEcnEstnot F. Leaves alternate, with stipules. if Filaments often united, but not the anthers. Two lower petals approaching or joined. Pod simple, with only one row of seeds, PULsE F. Filaments short: anthers 5, united. Lower petal with a sac or spur at the base. Pod with 3 rows of seeds on the walls, VIOLET F. Leaves alternate, without stipules. Flower generally 1-spurred or 2-spurred. Stamens 5, short; their anthers a little ‘united. Pod bursting at the touch, BausaM F. Stamens 8, separate. Fruit of 3 thick and closed pieces, Inpran-CrEss F. Stamens 6, in two sets. Flower closed. Pod one-celled, Fumirory F, ee 2. Corolla regular,.or nearly so. Stamens just as many as the petals, and standing one before éach of them. Pistils more than one, and separate. Petals 6. Flowers dicecious, MoonsEeEp F. Pistil with one ovary but with five separate styles, Leapwort F. Pistil and style one (the latter sometimes cleft at the summit). Anthers opening by uplifted valves or doors. Petals 6 or 8, BARBERRY F. Anthers not opening by valves, but lengthwise. Woody vines. Calyx minute: petals falling very early, GrRapeE-VINE F, Shrubs. Calyx larger, its divisions 4 or 5, BucktTHorn F. Herbs. Ovary and pod one-celled. Sepals 2: petals 5: stigmas 3, Pursuane F. Sepals as many as the petals: style single: stigma one, PRIMROSE F. 107 152 153 120 146 152 157 130 118 178 119 137 138 130 173 Stamens as many as the petals and alternate with them, or twice as many, or of some unequal number. Calyx with its tube adherent to the surface of the ovary. Stamens 3, united with each other more or less. Flowers moncecious, Gourp F. Stamens distinct, as many or twice as many as the petals. 154 108 POPULAR FLORA. Seeds many in a one-celled berry. Shrubs, Curnant F. Seeds many in a 2-celled or 1-celled pod: styles 2, SAXIFRAGE F, Seeds many: pod 4-celled: style 1: stigmas 4, EAENGT RanuSy Ee Seeds (1 to 5) one in each cell. Border of the calyx obscure. Flowers in cymes or heads. Style and stigma one, Cornet F. Flowers in umbels. Umbels compound: styles 2: fruit dry, Pars.ey F, Umbels simple or panicled: styles 8 to5, rarely 2: fruita berry, AraLia F. Calyx free from the ovary, at least from the fruit. . Leaves punctured with transparent dots, sharp-tasted or aromatic. Leaves simple, all opposite and entire,. Sr. Joun’s-wonrt F. Leaves compound, : Rus F. Leaves without transparent dots. “~ Pistils more than one. Leaves with stipules, Rosr F. Pistils 4 or 5. Herbs without stipules, Sroxrcnor F. Pistils 2, nearly distinct. Stipules none, SAXIFRAGE F. Pistil one, simple, one-celled: style and stigma-one, Puss F. Pistil one, compound, either its styles, stigmas, or cells more than one. Style one (in Créss F. often short or none), entive, or barely cleft at the top. Anthers opening by holes or chinks at the top, | Anthers opening across the top, Anthers opening lengthwise. Heati F. Herbs: stamens on the persistent calyx, Lyttrum F. “Herbs: stamens on the receptacle,'6, two of them shorter, Cress F. Woody plants. Fruit few-seeded. Stamens fewer than the 4 long petals, FRINGE-TREE, : Stamens'as many as the broad petals, STAFF-TREE F, Styles or sessile stigmas Ae ae style 2- to 5-cleft. Ovary and fruit one-céHed@and One-seeded. Shrubs, Sumacu F. Six-seeded on 3 projections from the walls, PINWEED, Several- or many-seeded. Stamens distinct. Seeds in the centre of the pod. Leaves all opposite, Pink F. Seeds on the walls or bottom of the pod, : SAXIFRAGE F, Many-seeded along the walls of a long-stalked berry. Stamens monadelphous, PASSIONFLOWER F, Ovary. with 2 to 5 or more cells. Sessile stigmas and stamens 4 to 6, Houry F. Styles 8. Leaves opposite, compound, BLADDERNUT F. Styles or long stigmas 2. Fruit 2-winged, Marve F. Styles or divisions of the style 5. Stamens 5: pod partly or completely 10-celled, Fuax F. Stamens 10: pod 5-celled. Leaves compound, Woop-Sorret F..- Stamens 10 (or fewer with anthers): styles united with a long beak, splitting from it with the 5 one-seeded little pods when ripe, Geranium I, 155 157 153 KEY TO THE FAMILIES OF CLASS I. 109 II. Monopetalous Division. Corolla with the petals more or Jess united into one piece. (Those whichrank in other divisions are marked f.) r A. CoROoLLA ON THE OVARY, i. c. tube of calyx coherent. Stamens united by their anthers, and Not by their filaments. Flowers in heads, with a calyx-like involucre, Composite F. 164 Also generally by their filaments, more or Jess. Flowers not in heads. Corolla irregulgr, split down one side. Flowers perfect, Losetta I. 167 Corolla regular, succulent vines, with tendrils. Flowers moneecious, tGourp F. 154 Stamens separate from each other, and Inserted on the corolla. Leaves opposite or whorled. Leaves opposite, without stipules. Head of flowers with an involucre, TEASEL F, 164 Leaves opposite, without stipules. Head, if any, without an involucre. ‘ Stamens two or three fewer than the 5 lobes of the corolla, VALERIAN F. 164 Stamens as many as the lobes of the corolla, or one fewer, Honrysuck Le F. 161 Here one might expect to find the tAMrraBitis F, 191 Leaves whorled, without stipules, } Mapper F: 164 Leaves opposite, with stipules, Inserted with, but not on, the regular corolla. Stamens as many as the lobes of the corolla. Herbs, CAMPANULA F. 167 Stamens twice as many as the lobes of the corolla, Woody plants, - HuckLeserny F. 168 B. Conro.ua ON TIE RECEPTACLE BELOW THE OVARY, i.e. Calyx free (e&cept in Brookweed). 1. Stamens more in number than the lobes of the corolla. x 4 Leaves compound: pod one-celled. Flowers commonly irregular. Stamens 10 or rarely more when the flower is regular, ~ {PutsE F. 141 Stamens 6 in two sets. Pefals 4, united, {Funmrronry F. 123 Leaves simple or palmately divided. Stamens many, monadelphous in a tube, +Matiow F. 181 Leaves simple, undivided. Stamens united only at the bottom, or separate. Stamens very many, adhering to the base of the corolla, » TCAMELLIA F, 134 Stamens on the corolla, twice or four times as many as its lobes, Evony F. 172 Stamens separate from the corolla, twice as many as its lobes, Heatu F, 168 2. Stamens just as many as the lobes of the regular corolla, 5, 4, or rarely 6 or 7. Stamens one opposite each division of the corolla. Styles 5: calyx a chaff-like cup: petals 5, almost distinct, Leapworr F, 173 Style 1. (Petals sometimes almost distinct,) Prinose F. 173 Stamens alternate with the divisions or lobes of the corolla, 5 or rigely 4, Inserted on the receptacle, Inserted on the corolla, but connected more cr less with the stigma. Juice milky. Ovaries and pods 2 to each flower. Anthers lightly adhering to the stigma: filaments monadelphous, Mitkweep F’, 188 Anthers only surrounding the stigma: filaments distinct, DoeBaneE F. 187 Inserted on the corolla, free from the stigma. Beata’. 168 110 . POPULAR FLORA. Style none: stigmas 4 to 6: corolla very short, deeply cleft, Hotty F. 171 Style one, rarely 2, sometimes 2-cleft or 3-cleft. Ovary deeply 4-lobed, in feuit making 4 akenes. Stamens 4. Leaves opposite, aromatic, SaGE or Mint F. 178 Stamens 5. Leaves alternate, not aromatic, Borracr F, 181 Ovary and pod one-celled: the seeds on the walls. Leaves lobed or cut. Style 2-cleft above, WATERLEAF F. 182 Leaves entire and opposite, or alternate, with the 3 leaflets entire, GENTIAN F. 187 Ovary and fruit with 2 or more cells. Stamens 4, long. Flowers in a close spike, PLANTAIN F. 172 Stamens 5. Pod or’ berry many-seeded. , Flower not quite regular. Style entire, « Frewort F. 175 Flower quite regular: stamens all alike, NiGHTsHADE F, 185 Stamenis 5; Pod few-seeded. ; Twining herbs. Seeds large, Convo.tvutus F. 184, Erect or spreading herbs. Style 3-cleft at the top, PoLemonium F. 183 3. Stamens 2 or 4, always fewer than the lobes of the corolla or calyx. Corolla more or Jess irregular, mostly 2-lipped. Ovary 4-lobed, making 4akenes. Stems square: leaves opposite, aromatic, SAGE or Mint F. 178 Ovary and fruit 4-celled and 4-seeded. Stamens 4, Ovary one-celled, making one akene. Stamens 4, Ovary and pod one-velled, many-seeded on the walls. No green leaves, Broom-Rare F. 174 Ovary and pod 2-celled with many large and winged seeds, \ Ovary and fruit irregularly 4-5-celled, with many large seeds, VERVAIN F. 177 Bienontia F. 174 Ovary and pod 2-celled, with many or few small seeds, Fiewort F. 175 Corolla regular. Stamens only 2. Woody plants. . Corolla 4-lobed or 4-parted, Ouive F. 189 Corolla 5-lobed, salver-shaped, JESSAMINE F’, 188 III. Apetalous: Division. Corolla none: sometimes the calyx also wanting. (Those which are merely apetalous forms of the preceding divisions are marked f.) A. FLowrrs NOT IN CATKINS, OR CATKIN-LIKE HEADS. 1. Seeds many in each cell of the ovary or fruit. Calyx with its tube coherent to the 6-celled ovary, Brrtuwort F. 190 Calyx free from the ovary. Pod 5-celled, 5-horned, Ditchwort in }StonEcrop F. 156 Pod 8-celled, or one-celled with 8 or more styles, . Carpetweed, &c. in +Pink F. 129 Pod or berry one-celled and simple, {Crowroor F. 112 2. Seeds only one or two in each cell of the ovary or fruit. Pistils more than one to the flower, and separate from each other. , Calyx present and petal-like. Stamens on the receptacle, tCrowroot F. 112 Calyx present; the stamens inserted on it. Leaves with stipules, tRosz F. 146 KEY TO THE FAMILIES OF CLASS L Pistil only one, either simple or formed of two or more with their ovaries united. Styles 10. Fruit a 10-seeded berry, PoKEWErED F. Styles or stigmas 2 or 3. Herbs with sheaths for stipules, and entire leaves, Buckwueat F. Herbs with separate stipules, and compound or cleft leaves, Hemp F. Herbs without stipules, and Without scaly bracts. Flowers small and greenish, GoosEroort F. With scaly bracts around and among the flowers, AMARANTH F, Shrubs or tregg, with opposite leaves. Fruit a pair of keys, {Marre F. Shrubs or trees, with alternate leaves and deciduous stipules. Stamens gn the throat of the calyx, alternate with its lobes, Bucxruorn F. Stamens on the bottom of the calyx, » Eto F. Style one: stigma 2-lobed. Fruita key. Leaves pinnate, Ash in fOuive F. Style or sessile stigma one and simple. Calyx tubular or cup-shaped, colored like a corolla. Stamens 8, on the tube. Shrubs: leaves simple, MrEzEREuUM F. Stamens 4, on the throat. Herbs: leaves compound... Burnet in +Rosz F. Stamens 5 or less on the receptacle. Calyx imifiiting a¥mgnopetalous funnel-shaped corolla: a cup outside imitatingsa calyx. Herbs with opposite leaves, ‘ Mrraziuis F. Calyx of 6 petal-like sepals colored like petals: stamens 9 or 12: anthers opening by uplifted valves. Aromatic trees and shrubs, ; Laure. F. . Calyx in the sterile flowers of 3 to 5 greenish sepals: stamens the same number. Flowers monecious or dicecious, a 3 * Nert_r F. , ° : B. F.LoweErs one oR BOTH sdirs IN CATKINS OR CATKIN-LIKE HEADS., Twining herbs, dicecious : fertile flowers only in a short catkin, Hop in the Hemp F. Trees or shrubs. : , Sterile flowers only in catkins. Flowers moncecious. Leaves pinnate. Ovary and fruit (a kind of stone-fruit, without an involucre), Waunur F. Leaves'simple. Nuts one or more in a cup or involucre, Oak F. Both kinds of flowers in catkins or close heads. Leaves palmately veined or lobed. Calyx 4-cleft, in the fertile flowers becoming berry-like. Mulberry, &c. in Nerrie F. Calyx none: flowers in round heads, PLANE-TREE F, Leaves pinnately veined. Flowers dicecious, one to each scale. Pod many-seeded, Wittow F. Flowers moneecious, the fertile ones 2 or more under each scale, Bircu F, Flowers only one under each fertile scale. Fruit one-seeded, SwWEET-GALE F. Suscuass II.— GYMNOSPERMS. Proper pistil none ; th® ovules and seeds naked, on the boftom or inner face of an open scale, as in Pines, or without any scale at all, as in Yew, Ping Faminy, 11] 201 112 POPULAR FLORA. I. Polypetalous Division. 1. CROWFOOT FAMILY. Order RANUNCULACER. Herbs, or sometimes slightly woody plants, with a colorless juice, sharp or acrid to the taste. Parts of the flower all separate and distinct, and inserted on the receptacle. Petals often wanting or of singular shapes. Stamens many, or at least more than 12. Pistils many, or more than one (except in Larkspur, Baneberry, and Bugbane), and entirely separate, except in Fennel-flower, in fruit becoming akenes or pods, or sometimes berries. The leaves are generally compound, or much cut or parted, and without stipules. 237. Flower of Pennsylvanian Anemony. 238. Half flower of a Crowfoot, magnified. 239. A petal, showing its littlescale 240. Pod ef Marsh-Marigold, opening. 241. A pistil of Anemony, magnified, the ovary cut through to show the ovmle init 242 Akene of Crow- fuot, enlarged, 243, Same, cut through to show the seed in it. 244 Enlarged cross-section of the sepals of Virgin’s-Bower No. 1, in the bul, 945. Same of Virgin’s-Bower No 3 246, Akene and feathery tail or style of Virgin’s-Bower No. 1, The genera are numerous. The following table or key leads to the name of each. Climbing plants, with opposite, generally compound leaves, no real petals, the edges of the sepals turned inwards in the bud, (Clematis) Virnern’s-BOWER. Not climbing: leaves all alternate except in Anemony: sepals overlapping in the bud. Pistils many or several, one-seeded, becoming akenes in fruit. Petals none: but the sepals colored like petals. Three leaves under the flower exactly imitating a calyx, (Hepatica) Heratica POPULAR FLORA. 113 No such calyx-like leaves (or involucre) close to the flower. Flowers single, on long, naked stalks, (Anemone) ANEMONY. Flowers several in a simple umbel, handsome, } Flowers many in a panicle, small, s Petals present as well as sepals, the latter falling off early, (Ranunculus) Crowroor. Pistils more than one-seeded, becoming pods (except in Baneberry). ” Sepals petal-like, not falling when the flower first opens, and « Golden-yellow: petals none. Leaves rounded, not cut, (Caltha) MarsH-MAnricoip. Yellow or yellowish: petals stamen-like. Leaves deeply cut, ( Trdllius) GLOBE-FLOWER. White: pistils several, on stalks of their own. Leaflets 3, ( Coptis) GOLDTHREAD. Blue, purple, red, &c., rarely white. Pistils not stalked. Pistils 5, united below into a bladdery pod, (Nigélla) * Prxnet-FLoweEn. Pistils 2 to 5, rarely one, separate. Sepals 5, all alike: petals 5, in the form of large spurs, (Aguil2gia) CoLUMBINE. Sepals 5, dissimilar. Flower irregular. (Thalictrum) Meapow-Rut. Upper sepal long-spurred: petals 4, (Delphinium) Larkspur. Upper sepal hood- or helmet-shaped; petals 2, (Aconitum) ACONITE. Sepals petal-like, white, falling when the flower opens: pelals minute or none. Flowers ina short raceme. Pistil one, making a berry, (Actea) BANEBERRY. Flowers in a long raceme. Fruit a dry pod, (Cimicifuga) BUGBANE. Sepals leaf-like, not falling off: petals large and showy, (Pednia) * Proxy. *,.* Those genera which have more than one common species are next given, with the distinguishing marks of the species. Virgin’s-Bower. Clematis. . Calyx of 4 petal-like sepals, their margins not overlapping, but turned or rolled inwards in the bud. (Fig. 244, a cross-section of the calyx in the bud, shows this slightly in species No. 1, and Fig, 245, much rolled inwards, in No. 8.) No real petals. Fruit of many akenes, their style remaining gen- erally in the form of a Jong and feathery tail (Fig. 246} Flowering in summer. 1. Witp Vircrn’s-BowER. Flowers white, in panicles, small, somewhat dicecious; leaflets 3, toothed; akenes with long feathery tails (Fig. 246). Banks of streams. C. Virginiana. 2. Sweet VY. Flowers panicled, white; leaflets 5 to 9, entire. Cultivated in gardens. C. Fldmmula. 8. VinE-Bowrr. [Flower single; sepals purple, large; fruit short-tailed, naked. Cult. C. Viticélla. Hepatica (or Liverleaf). Hepdtica. . Calyx of 6 to 12 petal-like sepals, which are naturally taken for a corolla, because just underneath is a whorl of 8 little leaves exactly resembling a calyx; but it is a little way below the flower. Real petals none. Pistils several, making naked-pointed akenes. — Low herbs, in woods, sending up from the ground, in early spring, rounded 3-lobed leaves, which last over the next winter, and scapes with single (blue, purple, or nearly white) flowers. 1. Rounp-Lonrep H. Lobes of the leaves 3, rounded and blunt. Common N. & E. IT. triloba. 2. Suarp-LobeD H. Lobes of the leaves 8 or 5, acute. Common W. II. acutiloba. Ane’mony. Anemone. Calyx of from 5 to 15 petal-like sepals; no leaves just underneath it, but the flowers on long and naked footstalks. No real petals. Akenes blunt or short-pointed, not ribbed nor grooved. Perennial herbs: their upper or stem-leaves opposite or in whorls. Flowers generally single, handsome. The 114 POPULAR FLORA. following are the common wild species: they grow in woods and low meadows; the first three blossom in summer; the fourth in early spring. , 1. Virerntan AnEmony. Principal stem-leaves 3 in a whorl, on long footstalks, 3-parted and cut- lobed, hairy; middle flower-stalk leafless, the others 2-leaved in the middle, new ones rising from their axils, and so producing the blossoms all summer; sepals greenish white, acute; pistils very many, in an oval woolly head. A. Virginidna. 2. Lone-rruirep A. Stem-leaves many in a whorl; flower-stalks 2 to 6, all leafless, very long; sepals blunt; head of fruit (an inch) long: otherwise like the last. N. & W. A. cylindrica, 8. PENNSYLVANIAN A. Hairy; stem-leaves sessile; main ones 3 in a whorl, but only a pair of smallér ones on each of the side flowering branches; sepals large, white or purplish; akenes flat, many in a round head. A. Pennsylvdnica. 4. Grove A. Smooth, low, one-flowered; stem-leaves 3 in a whorl, on long footstalks, divided into 3 or 5 leaflets; sepals white or purplish; akenes only 15 to 20, narrow. A. nemordsa. Meadow-Rue. Thalictrum. Sepals 4 or more, petal-like or greenish. Real petals none. Pistils 4 to 15, becoming ribbed or grooved akenes. — Perennials, with compound leaves. No. 1 is almost an Anemony, except for its ribbed akenes, and has a few handsome and perfect flowers in an umbel. The other two have small and mostly dicecious flowers in a compound panicle, and decompound leaves; one of the lower leaves is shown in Fig! 133. 1, Anemony M. Low, delicate ; stem-leaves all in a whorl at the top; sepals 7 to 10, white or pink- ish, like those of Grove Anemony, with which it generally grows. Fl. spring. T. anemonoides. 2. Earty M. Plant 1° or 2° high; leaves all alternate, the rounded leaflets with 5 to 7 roundish lobes; flowers greenish, in early spring. Woods. j T. dioicum. 8. Late M. Much like the last, but 3° to 6° high; leaflets 3-lobed; flowers white, in summer. Com- mon in meadows and along streams. T. Corniti. Crowfoot. Raniinculus. Sepals 5, falling early. Petals 5 (sometimes accidentally more), flat. Akenes many in a head, flat. * Petals white, with a round spot at the base : herbage all under water. 1. Ware Warer-Crowroor. Leaves made up of many delicate thread-like divisions. R. aquctilis, * * Petals yellow, and with a little scale on the inside at the bottom. (Fig. 239.) a Herbage all or nearly all under water. 2. YELLow WarTER-C. Like the Jast, but larger in all its parts, and yellow-flowered, the upper leaves often out of water and much less cut. N. & W. R, Pirshii. + «+ Not growing under water. —+ Petals not longer, but often shorter, than the calyx : plants erect, in wet places. 3, SMALL-FLOWERED Crowroor. Very smooth, slender ; first root-leaves crenate. R. abortiwus. 4. Cursep C. Very smooth, stouter ; leaves all cleft or lobed; head of fruits oblong. _R. sceleratus. 6. Hoox-prakrp C. Hairy; leaves all 3-cleft, lobes broad; akenes with long and hooked beaks, col- lected into a round head. R. recurvatus. 6. BrisrLy C. Stout, bristly-hairy; leaves divided into 8 or 5 stalked leaflets, which are cleft and cut again into narrow lobes; akenes straight-beaked, in an oblong head. R. Pennsylvanicus. POPULAR FLORA. 115 ++ ++ Petals always much longer than the calyx. Dry ground, except No. 8. 7. Earty C. Low, 4’ to 9’ high; root-leaves nearly pinnate; petals narrow. F).spring. R. fascicularis. 8. CREEPING C. Stems reclining, making long runners in summer; leaves variously divided; petals obovate. Wet places. BR. repens. 9. BuLzuous C., or EARLY Burrercur. A solid bulb at the base of the upright stem; leaves divided and cut; petals round, large, and bright yellow. Naturalized, E. in meadows. Fl. spring. R. bulbosus. 10. Tauy C., or Larer Burrercur. Stem upright, 2° or 8° high, no bulb at the bottom; leaves di- vided and cut; petals obovate, not so large and bright-colored as the last. Fl.summer. &. acris, Globe-flower. Trédllius. Appears like a large Crowfoot or Buttercup, but the yellow leaves of the blossom are sepals ; within are the petals, small, and of peculiar shape, appearing like larger stamens. And the nine or more pistils make several-seeded pods. 1. European G. Sepals 10 to 15, golden-yellow, converging, and so making a rather globe-shaped flower; petals longer than the stamens. Cult. in gardens; fl. spring. T. Europeus. 2. AmEricAN G. Sepals 5 or 6, spreading, pale greenish-yellow; petals shorter than the stamens, and liable to be overlooked. Swamps, N. ‘T. Americanus. Columbine. Aquilégia. Sepals 5, petal-like, all similar. Petals 5, in the form of large hollow spurs. Pistils 5, making many- seeded pods. — Leaves twice or thrice compound; leaflets in threes. (Fig. 247.) 1. Witp C. Flowers scarlet, yellow inside, nodding; spurs hooked. Rocks. A. Canadénsis. 2.:GARDEN C. Flowers blue, purple, or white; spurs straight. In all gardens. A. vulgaris. Larkspur. Delphinium, Sepals 5, petal-like, dissimilar, the upper one prolonged behind into a hollow spur. Petals 4, small; the upper pair with hardly any claws, but with long spurs which run back into the spur of the calyx: the lower pair with short claws and no spur; in some species all the petals grow together into one body. FPistils and pods‘1 to 5, many-seeded. — Flowers showy, in racemes or panicles, mostly white, blue, or purple. (Fig. 251, 252.) * Garden annuals: leaves finely cut: petals united into one body (Fig. 253): pistil only one. 1. Common or FreLp Larkspur. Flowers scattered on spreading branches; pods smooth. D. Consdlida. 2. Rocket or Assx L. Flowers crowded in along and close raceme; pods hairy. D. Ajacis. * % Garden perennials: pistils 2 to 5: the four petals separate. Many varieties are cultivated, mostly of the two following species. 3. GREAT-FLowWERED L. Leaves cut into linear distant lobes; pods downy. Dz grandiflorum, 4. Ber L. Leaves cleft into 3 to 7 wedge-shaped and cut-toothed lobes; petals bearded. Dz elatum. * %*& * Wild species at the West and South: perennials, with 4 separate petals and 8 to 5 pods. 5. TALL Witp L. Stem 2° to 5° high; leaves parted into 3 or 5 narrow wedge-shaped pointed divis- jons; flowers many in a long raceme, blue-purple, in summer. D.z exaltatum. 6. Dwarr L. Stem 1° high or less; the 5 divisions of the leaves cleft into linear lobes; flowers few, loose, and large, purple-blue, in spring; pods spreading. * Dz tricorne. 116 POPULAR FLORA. 7. AzurkE L. Leaves parted and cut into narrow linear lobes; flowers many in a close raceme, sky. blue or white; pods erect. Dz. azireum, Aconite. (Monkshood, Wolfsbane.) Aconitum. Sepals 5, petal-like, dissimilar, the upper one largest and forming ahood or helmet. Petals only 2, and those are small and curiously shaped bodies, with a curved or hammer-shaped little blade on a long claw, standing under the hood. Pods as in Larkspur. — Flowers in racemes or panicles, showy, blue, or purple, varying to white. Herbage and roots poisonous. (Fig. 254, 255.) 1. GArDEN AconITE. Stem erect and rather stout, very leafy; divisions of the leaves parted into linear lobes; flowers crowded. A. Napellus. 2. Witp A. Stem weak and bending, as if to climb; lobes of the leaves lance-ovate; flowers scattered, insummer. W. A. uncindtum. 253 Four petals of Larkspur No.1, united into one body. 252 255 247. Flower, &c. of Wild Columbine, 251. Flower of Larkspur No. 6. 252. Ite 254. Flower of Aconite, 255 Its parts dim 2418. A petal. 2419. The 2 pode open= sepals and petals displayed, played: s, the sepals; p, the petals; ing. 250. A separate pod. él, stamens and pistils on the flower-stalke POPULAR FLORA. 117 2 MAGNOLIA FAMILY. Order MAGNOLIACES. Trees or shrubs, with aromatic or strong-scented and bitter bark, and alternate simple leaves, which are never toothed; large, thin stipules form the covering of the buds, but fall off early. Flowers large, single at the ends of the branches; their leaves in threes, viz. 3 sepals colored like the petals, and 6 petals in two ranks or 9 in three ranks, their margins overlapping in the bud. Stamens very. many, on the receptacle, with long anthers occupying, as it were, the side of the filament. Pistils many, packed and partly grown together one above the other, so as 257 to make a sort of cone in fruit. — We have only two genera. 1. Stipules flat, not adhering to the leafstdlk. Petals 6, greenish-or- ange. Filaments slender. Pistils overlying each other and grown to- gether to make uw spindle-shaped cone, dry when ripe, and sepa- rating into a sort of key-fruit. Leaves somewhat 38-lobed, and as if cut off at the end. One species only is known, the (Liriodéndron Tulipifera) TULIP-TREE. 2. Stipules making around and pointed bud, adhering to the lower part of the leaf-stalk. Petals 6 to 9. Fil- aments below the anther very short. Cone of fruit rose-red and fleshy when ripe, the pistils opening on the back, the scarlet fleshy-coated 253 256 seeds hanging by delicate and very 256, Small Laurel-Magnolia. 257. A stamen magnified. 253. Its cone of fruit, elastic threads, MAGNOLIA. the seeds hanging as they drop. Magnolia. Magnélia. Our wild species divide into Laurel-Magnolias, Cucumber-trees, and Umbrella-trees. § 1. LAUREL-MAGNOLIAS. Leaves thick, evergreen at the South; leaf-buds silky; flowers rather globe-shaped, appearing through the summer, white, very fragrant 1. Great LAvREL-MAGnNo.ta. Tree with leaves deep-green and shining above, rusty beneath when young; flower very large. S. It has stood the winter as far north as Philadelphia. Jf grandiflora, 2. SMALL LAUREL-M. (or WHITE Bay). Shrub or small tree; leaves oblong, whitish beneath; flower about 2’ broad. Swamps. E. & S: JL glauca. § 2. CUCUMBER-TREES. Leaves thin, scattered along the branches, a little downy beneath, buds silky; flowers not sweet-scented, nor showy, nor very large, appearing in spring. 3. Common CucuMBER-M. A tall tree; leaves oval or oblong, pointed; flowers greenish; young fruit resembling a very small cucumber. Common W. M. acuminata. 118 POPULAR FLORA. 4. YELLow Cucumprr-M. A low tree; leaves ovate or a little heart-shaped; flowers eream-yellow. S.; sometimes cultivated at the North. M. cordata. §8. UMBRELLA-TREES. Leaves thin, large, those on the flowering shoots forming an umbrella-like circle underneath the blossom; leaf-buds smooth; flower large and white, not sweet-scented, ap- pearing in early spring; petals about 4’ long, tapering below. 5. EAR-LEAVED UMBRELLA-M. Leaves nearly 1° long, auricled at the base (Fig. 102). S. J. Fraseri. 6. Common UMBRELLA-M. Leaves 1° to 2° long, tapering into a short footstalk. M. Umbrella. 7. There is, besides, the GREAT-LEAVED M., with much the largest flowers and leaves of all, the latter 2° or 8° long, scattered, heart-shaped at the base, and white-downy beneath; flower 8! or 10' broad. S. and cult. rarely. It does not belong exactly to either the above divisions. M. macrophylla. 8 The PurrLte Macno.ta, from Japan, is a shrub in some gardens and grounds, flowering before the leaves are out. MM. purpurea. 3. CUSTARD-APPLE FAMILY. Order ANONACE. Trees or shrubs, resembling the Magnolia family, but the three petals of each set not ‘overlapping each other 865 2 in the bud; the bark and foliage not aromatic, but unpleasant-tasted; the seeds large and bony, their albumen variegated like a nutmeg, or cut into slits. Leaves entire, des- titute of stipules. Only one genus in this coun- try, and one species com- mon; the 1. Common Papaw. ug scat) » Ce mothods, d practical pperaions rok, Found ii) 91 ae so SR ee oa ineokporated into these books, and no. lalicrga:, expens:: ar. (aioe aay wide @ elev) eclentific, compre ~asivevggelypomples « ¢ ry theories, vet combinins and. sysre ra) Tarder tones. a dumrind from many aqucte~s | : « number amd compreversiveuy character, ae hay fin rope igh 8 eke Pitrodaced tnta i. “seh eriy & pavblipne 1 . ; 4 prety : peOks, In a.ce Oaband VYriiten Animlmet4 isn’t - bands 3: PPT ge ajarl ia TICE I be fOnweu. TPES (OT am ange Wiel exe bot The mwst Hbetalverms wilh be Im ot eg he ee rit Gal f nation: : , WSO, Dlake Yd cpiCAege ye ays 4) a t eS Ga Lae s