one areas lela ~ A es = Podiner a od f =e re see oe? is eros te! asp onstateitela is Te 5. 7 nS Tree ane fora % henner mics eae ioe Ge Eee SF a ENN Se CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY GIFT OF D. Reddick Cornell University Library QK 47.G77 1875 INT 3 1924 024 757 811 Cornell University Library 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/cu31924024757811 GRAY’S SCHOOL AND FIELD BOOK or BOTANY. CONSISTING OF “LESSONS IN BOTANY,” AND “FIELD, FOREST, AND GARDEN BOTANY,” BOUND IN ONE VOLUME. By ASA GRAY, FISHER PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY. NEW YORK: IVISON, BLAKEMAN, TAYLOR, & COMPANY 188 & 140 Granp STREET, 1875. PUBLISHERS’ PREFACE uRAY’S SCHOOL AND FIELD BOOK OF BOTANY Tuis work consists of the “Lussons rx Botany” and the “Frey, Forssr anp Garpen Botany,” bound together in one complete volume, forming a most popular and comprehensive Scoot Botany, adapted to beginners and advanced classes, to Agricultural Colleges and Schools, as well as to all other grades in which the science is taught; it is also adapted for use as a hand-book to assist in analyzing plants and flowers in field study of botany, either by classes or individuals. The book is intended to furnish Botanical Classes and beginners with an easier introduction to the Plants of this country, and a much more comprehensive work, than is tne Manvat. ‘Beginning with the jirst principles, it progresses by easy stages until the student, who is at all diligent, is enabled to master the intricacies of the science. It is a Grammar and Dictionary of Botany, and comprises the common Herbs, Shrubs, and Trees of the Southern as well as the Northern and Middle States, including the commonly cultivated, as well as the native species in fields, gardens, pleasure-grounds, or house culture, and even the conservatory plants ordinarily met with. This work supplies a great desideratum to the Botanist and Botanical Teacher, there being no similar class-book published in this country. GRAY’S LESSONS IN BOTANY AND VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY, ILLUSTRATED BY OVER 360 WOOD ENGRAVINGS, FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS, BY ISAAC SPRAGUE. TO WHICH I8 ADDED A COPIOUS GLOSSARY, oR DICTIONARY OF BOTANICAL TERMS. - By ASA GRAY, FISHER PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY. IVISON, BLAKEMAN, TAYLOR & CO, NEW YORK AND CHICAGO, 1875, Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by GEORGE EF. PUTNAM & CO., in the Clerk’s Oftice of the District Court for the Southarn District of New York, Fatered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by ASA GRAY, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the District of Wassaca asetts. PREFACE. Tuts book is intended for the use of beginners, and for classes in the common and higher schools,— in which the elements of Botany, one of the most generally interesting of the Natural Sciences, surely ought to be taught, and to be taught correctly, as far as the instruction proceeds. While these Lessons are made as plain and simple as they well can be, all the subjects treated of have been carried far enough to make the book a genuine Grammar of Botany and Vegetable Physiology, and a sufficient introduction to those works in which the plants of a country — especially of our own — are described. Accordingly, as respects the principles of Botany (including Vege- table Physiology), this work is complete in itself, as a school-bcok for younger classes, and even for the students of our higher seminaries. For it-comprises a pretty full account of the structure, organs, growth, and reproduction of plants, and of their important uses in the scheme of creation, — subjects which certainly ought to be as generally understood by all educated people as the elements of Natural Philosophy or Astron- omy are; and which are quite as easy to be learned. The book is also intended to serveas an introduction to the author's Manual. of the Botany of the Northern United States (or to any similar work describing the plants of other districts), and to be to it what a grammar and a dictionary are to a e1assical author. It consequently con- tains many terms and details which there is no necessity for young stu- dents perfectly to understand in the first instance, and still less to commit to memory, but which they will need to refer to as occasions arise, when they come to analyze flowers, and ascertain the names of our wild plants. To make the book complete in this respect, a full Glossary, or Diction- ary of Terms used in describing Plants, is added to the volume. This con- tains very many words which are not used in the Manual of Botany; but as they occur in common botanical works, it was thought best to in- troduce and explain them. All the words in the Glossary which seemed to require it are accented. iv PREFACE. It is by no means indispensable for students to go through the volume before commencing with the analysis of plants. When the proper season for botanizing arrives, and when the first twelve Lessons have been gone over, they may take up Lesson XXVIII. and the following ones, and pro- ceed to study the various wild plants they find in blossom, in the manner illustrated in Lesson XXX., &c., — referring to the Glossary, and thence to the pages of the Lessons, as directed, for explanations of the various distinctions and terms they meet with. Their first essays will necessarily be rather tedious, if not difficult; but each successful attempt smooths the way for the next, and soon these technical terms and distinctions will become nearly as familiar as those of ordinary language. Students who, having mastered this elementary work, wish to extend their acquaintance with Vegetable Anatomy and Physiology, and to con- sider higher questions about the structure and classification of plants, will be prepared, to take up the author’s Botanical Tezt-Book, an Introduction -to Structural Botany, or other more detailed treatises. No care and expense have been spared upon the illustrations of this volume; which, with one or two exceptions, are all original. They were drawn from nature by Mr. Sprague, the most accurate of living botanical artists, and have been as freely introducéd as the size to which it was needful to restrict the volume would warrant. To append a set of questions to the foot of each page, although not un- usual in school-books, seems like a reflection upon the competency or the faithfulness of teachers, who surely ought to have mastered the lesson be- fore they undertake to, teach it; nor ought facilities to be afforded for teaching, any more than learning, lessons by rote. A full analysis of the contents of the Lessons, however, is very convenient and advantageous. Such an Analysis is here given, in place of the ordinary table of con- tents. This will direct the teacher and the learner at once to the leading ideas and important points of each Lesson, and serve as a basis to ground proper questions on, if such should be needed. ASA GRAY. Harvarp University, CAMBRIDGE, January 1, 1857. *,* Revised August, 1868, and alterations made adapting it to the new edition of Manual, and to Field, Forest, and Garden Botany, to which this work is the proper introduction and companion. A. G. ANALYSIS OF THE LESSONS.* LESSON I.—Borany as a Brancu or Naturat History. . . p. i. 1. Natural History, its subjects. 2. The Inorganic or Mineral Kingdom, what it is: why called Inorganic. 3. The Organic world, or the world of Or- ganized beings, why so called, and what its peculiarities. 4. What kingdoms it comprises. 5, 6. Differences between plants and animals. 7. The use of plants : how vegetables are nourished ; and how animals. 8. Botany, how defined. 9. Physiology, and Physiological Botany, what hey relate to. 10. Systematic Botany, whaf it relates to: a Flora, what it is. 11. Geographical Botany, Fossil Botany, &c., what they relate to. LESSON Il-— Tue Grows or tue Pranr From THE SEED. . p. 4 12. The Course of Vegetation: general questions proposed. 13. Plants formed on one general plan. 14. The Germinating Plantlet: 15. exists in miniature in the sced: 16. The Embryo; its parts: 17, 18. how it develops. 19. Opposite growth of Root and Stem: 20. its object or results: 21, 22. the different way each grows. LESSON III. Growrna or tue PLant FroM THE SEED; continued. p. 9. 23. Recapitulation: Ascending and Descending Axis. 24,25. The Germi- nating Plantlet, how nourished. 26. Deposit of food in the embryo, illustrated in the Squash, &c.. 27. in the Almond, Apple-seed, Beech, &c.: 28. in the Bean: 29. in the Pea, Oak, and Buckeye: peculiarity of these last. 30, 31. Deposit of food outside of the embryo: Albumen of the seed: various shapes of embryo. 32, 33. Kinds of embryo as to the number of Cotyledons: di- cotyledonous : monocotyledonous: polycotyledonous. 34, 35. Plan of vegeta- tion. 36. Simple-stemmed vegetation illustrated. LESSON IV. Tae Growrs or Piants From Bups anD BRANCHES. p. 20. 37, 88. Branching: difference in this respect between roots and stems. 39. Buds, what they are, and where situated: 40. how they grow, and what they become. 41. Plants as to size and duration: herb, annual, bicnnial, perennial : shrub: tree. 42. Terminal Bud. 43. Axillary Buds. 44. Scaly Buds. 45. Naked Buds. 46. Vigor of vegetation from buds illustrated. 47-49. Plan and arrangement of Branches: opposite: alternate. 50. Symmetry of Branches, ® The numbers in the analysis refer to the paragraphs. a* vi ANALYSIS OF THE LESSONS, what it depends on: 51. how .it becomes incomplete: 51-59. how varied, 53 Definite growth. 54. Indefinite growth. 55. Deliquescent or dissolving stems, how formed. 56. Excarrent stems of spire-shaped trees, how produced. 57, Latent Buds. 58. Adventitious Buds. 59. Accessory or supernumerary Buds. 60. Sorts of Buds recapitulated and defined. LESSON V. Morruonocy or Roots. . - + + «+ + + + + P28 61-64. Morphology; what the term means, and how applied in Botany. 65. Primary Root, simple; and, 66. multiple. 67. Rootlets; how roots absorb : time for transplantation, &c. -68. Great amount of surface which a plans spreads out, in the air and in the soil; reduced in winter, increased in spring. 69. Absorbing surface of roots increased by the root-hairs. 70. Fibrous roots for absorption. 71. Thickened or fleshy roots as storehouse of food. 72, 73. Their principal forms. 74. Biennial roots; their economy. 75. Perennial thickened roots. 76. Potatoes, &c. are not roots. 77. Secondary Roots, their economy. 78. Sometimes striking in open air, when they are, 79. Aerial Roots ; illustrated in Indian Corn, Mangrove, Screw Pine, Banyan, &c. 80. Aerial Rootlets of Ivy. 81. Epiphytes or Air-Plants, illustrated. 82. Parasitic Plants, illustrated by the Mistletoe, Dodder, &c. LESSON VI. Morpuorocy or Stems anp Brancues. .. . p. 36. 83 —85. Forms of stems and branches above ground. 86. Their direction or habit of growth. 87. Culm, Caudex, &c. 88. Suckers: propagation of plants by division. 89. Stolons: propagation by layering or laying. 90. Offsets. 91. Runners. 92. Tendrils; how plants climb by them: their disk-like tips in the Virginia Creeper. 93. Tendrils are sometimes forms of leaves. 94. Spines or Thorns; their nature: Prickles. 95. Strange forms of stems. 96. Subter- ranean stems and branches. 97. The Rootstock or Rhizoma, why stem and not root. 98. Why running rootstocks are so troublesome, and so hard to de- stroy. 99-101. Thickened rootstocks, as depositories of food. 102. Their life and growth. 103. The Tuber. 104."Economy of the Potato-plant. 105. Gradations of tubers into, 106. Corms or solid bulbs ; the nature and economy of these, as in Crocus. 107. Gradation of these into, 108. the Bulb: nature of bulbs. 109,110. Their economy. 111. Their two principal sorts. 112. Bulb- lets. 113. How the foregoing sorts of stems illustrate what is meant by mor- phology. 114. They are imitated in some plants above ground. 115. Consoli- dated forms of vegetation, illustrated by Cactuses, &c. 116. Their economy and adaptation to dry regions. LESSON VII. Morrnonocy or Leaves. . . 1...) . pe 4% 117, Remarkable states of leaves already noticed. 118, 119. Foliage the natural form of leaves: others are special forms, or transformations; why so called. 120. Leaves as depositories of food, especially the sced-leaves ; and, 121. As Bulb-scales. 122. Leaves as Bud-scales. 123. As Spines. 124, As Ten- drils. 125. As Pitchers. 126. As Fly-traps. 127-129. Thesame leaf serving various purposes, * ! ANALYSIS OF THE LESSONS.’ vii LESSON VIII. Morruonocy or Leaves as Forrace. . . + p. 54 130. Foliage the natural state of leaves. 131. Leaves a contrivance for in- creasing surface: the vast surface of a tree in leaf. 132, 183. The parts of a Jeaf. 134. The blade. 135. Its pulp or soft part and its framework. 186. The latter is wood, and forms the ribs or veins and veinlets. 137. Division and use of these. 138. Venation, or mode of veining. 139. Its two kinds. 140. Netted-veined or reticulated. 141. Parallel-veined or nerved. 142. The so- called veins and nerves essentially the same thing; the latter not like the nerves of animals. 143. How the sort of veining of leaves answers to the num- ber of cotyledons and the kind of plant. 144. Two kinds of parallel-veined leaves. 145, 146. Two kinds of netted-veined leaves. 147. Relation of the veining to’ the shape of the leaf. 148-151. Forms of leaves illustrated, as to general out- line. 152. As to the base. 153. Astotheapex, ; LESSON IX. Morpnotocry or Leaves as Forrace; continued. p. 61. 154, 155. Leaves cither simple or compound. 156-162. Simple leaves il- lustrated as to particular outline, or kind and degree of division. 163. Com- pound leaves. 164. Leaflets. 165. Kinds of compound leaves. 166, 167. The pinnate, and, 168. the palmate or digitate. 169. As to number of leaflets, &c. 170. Leaflets, as to lobing, &c. 171, 172. Doubly or trebly compound leaves of both sorts. 173. Peculiar forms of leaves explained, such as: 174. Perfoliate: 175. Equitant: 176. Those without blade. 177. Phyllodia, or flattened petioles. 178. Stipules. 179. Sheaths of Grasses; Ligule. LESSON X. Tuer Arrangement or Leaves. . . . . - . . Dp. 71, 181. Phyllotaxy, or arrangement of leaves on the stem: general sorts of ar- rangement. 182. Leaves arise only one from the same place. 183. Clustered or fascicled leaves explained. 184. Spiral arrangement of alternate leaves. 185. The two-ranked arrangement. 186. The three-ranked arrangement. 187. The five-ranked arrangement. 188. The fractions by which these are expressed. 189. The eight-ranked and the thirteen-ranked arrangements. 190. The series of these fractions, and their relations. “191. Opposite and whorled leaves, 192. Symmetry of leaves, &e. fixed by mathematical rule. 193. Vernation, or arrangement of leaves in the bud. 194. The principal modes. LESSON XI. Tue Arrancement or Flowers on THE Stem, OR INFLORESCENCE. . ......... p76. 195. Passage from the Organs of Vegetation to those of Fructification or Re- production. 196. Inflorescence: the arrangement of flowers depends on that of the leaves. 197. They are from either terminal or axillary buds. 198. In- determinate Inflorescence. 199. Its sorts of flower-clusters. 200. Flower- stalks, viz. peduncles and pedicels, bracts and bractlets, &c. 201. Raceme. 202. Its gradation into (203) a Corymb, and that (204) into (205) an Umbel. 206. Centripetal order of development 207. The Spike. 208. The Head. viii ANALYSIS OF THE LESSONS. 209. Spadix. .210. Catkin or Ament. 211, 212. Compound inflorescence of the preceding kinds. 213. Panicle. 214. Thyrsus. 215. Determinate In- florescence explained. 216, 217. Cyme: centrifugal order of development. 218. Fascicle. 219. Glomerule. 221. Analysis of flower-clusters. 222. Gom. bination of the two kinds of inflorescence in the same plant. LESSON XII. Tue FLrowenr: 11s Parts or Orcans. . .. - p. 84. 993. The Flower. 224. Its nature and use. 225. Its organs. 226. The Floral Envelopes or leaves of the flower. Calyx and Corolla, together called (227) Perianth. 228. Petals, Sepals. 229. Neutral and “double” flowers, those destitute of, 230. The Essential Organs: Stamens and Pistils. 231, 232. The parts of the flower in their siccession. 233. The Stamen: its parts. 234. The Pistil : its parts. 2 LESSON XIII. Tue Pian or rae Frower.. . . .. . + - p88 235. Flowers all constructed upon the same plan. 236. Plan in vegetation referred to. 237-239. Typical or pattern flowers illustrated, those at once perfect, complete, regular, and symmetrical. 241. Imperfect or separated flowers. 242. Incomplete flowers. 243. Symmetry and regularity. 244. Irregular flow- ers. 245. Unsymmetrical flowers. 246. Numerical plan of the flower. 247. Alternation of the successive parts. 248. “Occasional obliteration of certain parts. 249. Abortive organs. 250. Multiplication of parts. LESSON XIV. Morruotocy of THE Frowrer. ....- . . p 96. 251. Recapitulation of the varied forms under which stems and leaves appear. 252. These may be called metamorphoses. 258. Flowers are altered branches ; how shown. 254. Their position the same as that occupied by buds. 255, 256. Leaves of the blossom are really leaves. 257. Stamens a different modifi; cation of the same. 258. Pistils another modification; the botanist’s idea of a pistil. 259. The arrangement of the parts of a flower answers to that of the leaves on a branch. LESSON XV. Morpnotocy or tHe Catyx anp Cororra. . . p. 99. 260. The leaves of the blossom viewed as to the various shapes they assume ; as, 261. by growing together. 262. Union or cohesion of parts df the same sort, rendering the flower, 263. Monopetalous or monosepalous ; various shapes de- fined and named. 265 The tube, and the horder or limb. 266. The claw and the blade, or lamina of a separate petal, &c. 267. When the parts are distinct, polysepalons, and polypetalous. 268. Consolidation, or the growing together of the parts of different sets. 269. Insertion, what it means, and what is meant by the terms Free and Hypogynous. 270. Perigynous insertion. 271, 272, Coherent or adherent calyx, &c. 273. Epigynous. 274. Inregularity of parts. 275. Papilionaceous flower, and its parts. 276. Labiate or bilabiate flowers. 277, 278. Ligulate flowers: the so-called compound flowers. \ ANALYSIS OF THE LESSONS. Ix LESSON XVI. stivation, oR THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE Canyx anp CoroLia In THE Bup. . . . p- 108. 279, ZEstivation or Prefloration defined. 280. Its principal modes illvstrated, viz. the valvate, induplicate, reduplicate, convolute or twisted, and imbricated. 282, 283. Also the open, and the plaited or -plicate, and its modification, the supervolute. LESSON XVII. Morrnotoey or THE Stamens. . . . . » p. LIL 284. Stamens considered as to, 285 Their inserfion. 286. Their union with each other. 287, 288. Their number. 289. Their parts. 290. The Filamen:. 291. The Anther, 292, 293. Its attachment to the filament. 294. Its structure. 295. Its mode of opening, &c. 296. Its morphology, or the way in which it is supposed to be constructed out of a leaf; its use, viz. to produce, 297. Pollen. 298. Structure of pollen-grains. 299. Some of their forms. LESSON XVIII. Morpuotocy or Pisrms. . ...... p.1il6. 300. Pistils as to position, 301. Asto number. 302. Their parts; Ovary, style, and stigma. 303, 304. Plan of a pistil, whether simple or compound. 305, 306. The simple pistil, or Carpel, and how it answers toa leaf. 307. Its sutures. 308. The Placenta. 309. The Simple Pistil, one-celled, 310. and with one style. 3811, 312. The Compound Pistil, how composed. 3813. With two or more cells: 314. their placents: in the axis: 315. their dissepiménts or parti- tions. 316, 317. One-celled compound pistils. 318. With a frec central pla- centa. 319, 320. With parietal placente. 321. Ovary superior or inferior. 822. Open or Gymnospermous, pistil: Naked-seeded plants. 323. Ovules. 324, Their structure. 325, 326. Their kinds illustrated. LESSON XIX. Morrnonocy or rHe RecerractrE. . .. . p. 124. 327. The Receptacle or Torus. 328-330. Some of its forms illustrated.- 831. The Disk. 332, Curious form of the receptacle in Nelumbium. LESSON XX. Tue Fruit... 6 1 6 1 ee et ee we De 126. 333. What the Fruit consists of. 334. Fruits which are not such in a strict botanical sense. 335. Simple Fruits. 336, 337. The Pericarp, and the changes it may undergo. 338 Kinds of simple fruits. 339. Fleshy fruits. 340 The Berry. 341. The Pepo or Ground-fruit. 342. The Pome or Apple-fruit. 343 - 315. The Drupe or Stone-fruit. 346. Dry fruits. 347. The Achenium: nature of the Strawberry. 348. Raspberry and Blackberry. 349. Fruit in the Com- posite Family: Pappus. 350. The Utricle. 351. The Caryopsis or Grain. 352. The Nut: Cupule. 353. The Samara or Key-fruit. 354. The Capsule or Pod. 355. The Follicle. 356. The. Lecume and Loment. 357. The truce Capsule. 358, 359. Dehiscence, its kinds. 361. The Silique. 362. The Silicle. 363. Tha Pyxis. 864. Multiple or Collective Fruits. 365. The Strobile or Cone. x ANALYSIS OF THE LESSONS. LESSON XXL Tur Surv... - se ee ee ee tt Pe 184, 366. The Seed; its origin. 367. Its parts. 360, 369. Its coats. 370. The Avil or Arillus. 371. Names applied to the parts of the seed. 372, The Ker- nel or Nucleus. ,373.°The Albumen. 374, 375. The Embryo. 376. The . Radicle: 377. The Cotyledons or Seed-leaves : the monocotyledonous, dicoty- ledonous, and polycotyledonous embryo. 3878. The Plumule. 379. The circle of vegetable life completed. LESSON XXII. How Paants grow. . «1 se © 6 6 + © pe 188. 380, 381. Growth, what it is. 382. For the first formation or beginning of a plant dates farther back than to, 383. the embryo in the ripe seed, which is already a plantlet. 384. The formation and the growth of the embryo itself. 385. Action of the pollen on the stigma, and the result. 386. The Embryonal Vesicle, or first cell of the embryo. 387. Its growth and development into the embryo. 3888. Growth of the plantlet from the seed. 389. The plant built up of a vast number of cells. 390. Growth consists of the increase in size of cells, and their multiplication in number. LESSON XXII. Vecrtasre Fasric: Cettutar Tissun. . . p. 142, 891, 392. Organic Structure illustrated : Cells the units or elements of plants. 393. Cellular Tissue. 394,395,397. How the cells are put together. 396. Inter- cellular spaces, air-passages. 398 Size of cells. 399. Rapidity of their produc- tion. 400. Their walls colorless ; the colors owing to their contents. 401. The walls sometimes thickened. 402. Cells are closed and whole; yet sap flows from one cell to another. 403. Their varied shapes. LESSON XXIV. Vecetante Fapnic: Woop. .... . . p.145. 404, All plants at the beginning formed of cellular tissue only; and some never have anything else in their composition. 405. Wood soon appears in most plants. 406. Its nature. 408. Wood-cclls or Woody Fibre. 409. Hard wood and soft wood. 410. Wood-cells closed and whole; yet they convey sap. 411. They communicate through thin places: Pinewood, &c. 412. Bast-cells or fibres of the hark. 413. Ducts or Vessels. 414. The principal kinds. 415. Milk-vessels, Oil-receptacles, &c. LESSON XXV. Avatomuy oF THE Root, Stew, axD LEavss. p. 149. 416. The materials of the veretable fabric, how put together. 417-419. Structure and action of the rootlets. 420. Root-hairs. 421. Structure of the stem. 422. The two sorts of stem. 423. The Endogenous. 423. The Exo- genous: 425. more particularly explained. 426. Parts of the wood or stem itself. 427. Parts of the bark. 428. Growth of the exocenous stem vear after year. 429. Growth of the hark, and what becomes of the older parts. 431, Changes in the wood; Sap-wood. 432. Heart-wood. 433. This no longer liv- ANALYSIS OF THE LESSONS. xi ing. 434. What the living parts of a tree are; their annual renewal. 435. Cambium-layer or zone of growth in the stem; connected with, 436. new root- lets below, and new shoots, buds, and leaves above. 437. Structure of a leaf: its two parts, the woody and the cellular, or, 438. the pulp ; this contains the green matter, or Chlorophyll. 439, 440. Arrangement of the cells of green pulp in the leaf, and structure of its epidermis or skin. 441. Upper side only endures the sunshine, 442. Evaporation or exhalation of moisture from the leaves. 443. Stomates or Breathing-pores, their structure and use. 444. Their numbers. LESSON XXVI. Tue Praxt in Action, poring THE Work or VEGETATION. . . . s+... « » p. 157. 446. The office of plants to produce food for animals. 447. Plants feed upon earth and air. 449. Their chemical composition. 450. Two sorts of material. 451, 452. The earthy or inorganic constituents. 453. The organic constituents. 454. These form the Cellulose, or substance of vegetable tissue ; composition of cellulose. 455. The plant’s food, from which this is made. 456. Water, furnishing hydrogen and oxygen. 458. Carbonic acid, furnishing, 457. Carbon. 459. The air, containing oxygen and nitrogen; and also, 460. Carbonic acid; 461. which is absorbed by the leaves, 462. and by the roots. 463. Water and carbonic acid the general food of plants. 464. Assimilation the proper work of plants. 465. Takes place in green parts alone, under the light of the sun. 466-468. Liberates oxygen gas and produces Cellulose or plant-fabric. 469. Or else Starch; its nature and use. 470. Or Sugar; its na- ture, &c. The transformations starch, sugar, &c. undergo. 471. Oils, acids, &e. The formation of all these products restores oxygen gas to the air. 472. There- fore plants purify the air for animals. 473. While at the same time they pro- duce all the food and fabric of animals. The latter take all their food ready made from plants. 474. And decompose starch, sugar, oil, &¢., giving back their ma- terials to the air again as the food of the plant; at the same time producing ani- malheat. 475. But the fabric or flesh of animals (fibrine, gelatine, &c.) contains nitrogen. 476 This is derived from plants in the form of Proteine. . Its nature and how the plant forms it. 477. Earthy matters in the plant form the earthy part of bones, &c. 478. Dependence of animals upon plants ; showing the great object for which plants were created. LESSON XXVIL Pruanr-Lire. . 2... 1... ee, p. 166. 479. Life; manifested by its effects ; viz. its power of transforming matter : 480. And by motion. 481, 482. Plants execute movements as well as animals. 483. Circulation in cells. 484. Free movements of the simplest plants in their forming state.. 485. Absorption and conveyance of the sap. 486. Its rise into the leaves. 487. Explained by a mechanical law; Endosmose. 488. Sct in ac- tion by evaporation from the leaves. 489. These movements controlled by the plant, which directs growth and shapes the fabric by an inherent power. 490-— 492. Special movements of a conspicuous sort; such as seen in the bending, twining, revolving, and coiiing of stems and tendrils; in the so-called sleeping and waking states of plants; in movements from irritation, and striking spon: taneous motions, 2 xii ANALYSIS OF THE LESSONS. 493. Cryptogamous or Flowerless Plants. 494. What they comprise; why so called. 495. To be studied in other works. LESSON XXVIII. Specres anp Kinps. . . + + + + + + pe 173. i 496. Plants viewed as to their relationships. 497. Two characteristics of plants and animals: they form themselves, and, 498. They exist as Individu- als. The chain of individuals gives rise to the idea of, 499, 500. Species: as- semblages of individuals, so like that they are inferred to have a common an- cestry. 501. Varieties and Races. 502. Tendency of the progeny to inherit all the peculiarities of the parent; how taken advantage of in developing and fixing races. 503. Diversity and gradation of species ; these so connected as to show all to be formed.on one plan, all works of one hand, or realizations of the conceptions of one mind. 504. Kinds, what they depend upon. 505. Genera. 506. Orders or Families. 507. Subordersand Tribes. 508. Classes. 509. The two great Series or grades of plants. 510. The way the various divisions in classification are ranked. LESSON XXIX. Botanica Names anp CHARACTERS. . . . p. 178. 511, 512. Classification ; the two purposes it subserves. 513. Names: plan of nomenclature. 514, 515. Generic names, how formed. 516. Specific names, how formed. 517. Names of Varieties. 518, 519. Names of Orders, Sub- orders, Tribes, &c. 520, 521. Characters. LESSONS XXX.-XXXII. How to stupy Prants. pp. 181, 187, 191. 522 ~ 567. Illustrated by several examples, showing the mode of analyzing and ascertaining the name of an unknown plant, and its place in the system, &c. LESSON XXXIII. Boranican Systems; . . . . . 7... p.195. 568-571. Natural System. 572, 573. Artificial Classification. 574. Arti- ficial System of Linnmus. 575. Its twenty-four Classes, enumerated and de- fined. 576. Derivation of their names. 577, 578. Its Orders. LESSON XXXIV. How ro cottect SPECIMENS AND MAKE AN HeRBaRIUM.. . 6. 6 1 1 ww. Op. 199, 579-582. Directions for collecting specimens. 583, 584, For drying and preserving specimens. 585, 586 For forming an Herbarium. GLOSSARY, or Dicrionary or Boranica, Terms. . ... . p. 208 FIRST LESSONS IN BOTANY AND VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. LESSON I. BOTANY AS A BRANCH OF NATURAL HISTORY. 1. THE subjects of Natural History are, the earth itself and the beings that live upon it. 2. The Inorganic World, or Mineral Kingdom. The earth itself, with the air that surrounds it, and all things naturally belonging to them which are destitute’ of life, make up the mineral kingdom, or in- organic world. These are called ¢norganic, or unorganized, because they are not composed of organs, that. is, of parts which answer to one another, and make up a whédle, such as is a horse, a bird, or a plant. They were formed, but they did not grow, nor proceed from previous bodies like themselves, nor have they the power of pro- ducing other similar bodies, that is, of reproducing their kind. On the other hand, the various living things, or those which have pos- sessed life, compose 3. The Organic World,.— the world of organized beings. These consist of organs; of parts which go to make up an individual, a heing. And each individual owes its existence to a preceding one like itself, that is, to a parent. It was not merely formed, but produced. At first small and imperfect, it grows and develops by powers of its own; it attains maturity, becomes old, and finally dies. It was formed of inorganié or mineral matter, that is, of earth and air, indeed; but only of this matter under the influence of life: and after life departs, sooner or later, it is decomposed into earth and air again. 1 ‘ 2 BOTANY, WHAT IT RELATES TO. [resson 1. 4. The organic world consists of two kinds of beings; namely, 1. Plants or Vegetables, which make up what is called the Vegetable Kingdom ; and, 2. Animals, which compose the Animal Kingdom. 5. The Differences between Plants and Animals seem at first sight so obvious and so great, that it would appear mere natural to inquire how they resemble rather than how they differ from each other. What likeness does the cow bear to the grass it feeds upon? The one moves freely from place to place, in obedience to its own will, as its wants or convenience require: the other is fixed to the spot of earth where it grew, manifests no will, and makes no movements that are apparent to ordinary observation. The one takes its food into an internal cavity (the stomach), from which it is absorbed into the system: the other absorbs its food directly by its surface, by its roots, leaves, &c. Both possess organs; but the limbs or members of the animal do not at all resemble the roots, leaves, blossoms, &c. of the plant. All these distinctions, however, gradu- ally disappear, as we come to the lower kinds of plants and the lower animals. Many animals (such as _barnacles, coral-animals, and polyps) are fixed to some support as completely as the plant is to the soil; while many plants are not fixed, and some move from place to place by powers of their own. All animals move some of their parts freely ; yet in the extent and rapidity of the motion many of them are surpassed by the common Sensitive Plant, by the Venus’s Fly-trap, and by some other vegetables; while whole tribes of aquatic plants are so fréely and briskly locomotive, that they have until lately been taken for animals. It is among these microscopic tribes that the animal and vegetable kingdoms most nearly approach each other, — so nearly, that it is still uncertain where to draw the line between them. 6. Since the difficulty of distinguishing between animals and plants occurs only, or mainly, in those forms which from their minuteness are beyond ordinary observation, we need not farther concern ourselves with the question here. One, and probably the most absolute, difference, however, ought to be mentioned at the outset, because it enables us to see what plants are made for. It is this: — 7. Vegetables are nourished by the mineral kingdom, that is, by the ground and the air, which supply all they need, and which they are adapted to live upon; while animals are entirely nourished by vegetables. ‘The great use of plants therefore is, to take portions of LE3soN I.] BOTANY, WHAT IT RELATES TO. 3 earth and air, upon which animals cannot subsist at all, and to con- vert these into something upon which animals can subsist, that is, into food. All food ts produced by plants. How this is done, it is the province of Vegetable Physiology to explain. 8. Botany is the name of the science of the vegetable kingdom in general. 9. Physiology is the study of the way a living being lives, and grows, and performs its various operations. ‘The study of plants in this view is the province of Vegetable Physiology. ‘The study of the form and structure of the organs or parts of the vegetable, by which ‘its operations are performed, is the province of Structural Botany. The two together constitute Physiological Botany. With this de- partment the study of Botany should begin; both because it lies at the foundation of all the rest, and because it gives that kind of knowledge-of plants which it is desirable every one should possess ; that is, some knowledge of the way in which plants live, grow, and fulfil the purposes of their existence. To this subject, accordingly, a large portion of the following Lessons is devoted. 10. The study of plants as to their kinds is the province of Sys- tematic Botany. An enumeration of the kinds of vegetables, as far as known, classified according to their various degrees of resemblance or difference, constitutes a general System of plants. A similar ac- count of the vegetables of any particular country or district is called a Flora of that country or district. 11. Other departments of Botany come to view when — instead of regarding plants as to what they are in themselves, or as to their relationship with each other — we consider them in their relations to other things.. Their relation to the earth, for instance, as respects their distribution over its surface, gives rise to Geographical Botany, ot Botanical Geography. The study of the vegetation of former times, in their fossil remains entombed in the crust of the earth, gives rise to Fosstl Botany. The study of plants in respect to their uses to man is the province of Agricultural Botany, Medical Botany, and the like. 4 GROWTH OF THE PLANT FROM THE SEED. [LESSON 2. LESSON IL THE GROWTH OF THE PLANT FROM THE SEED. 12. The Course of Vegetation. “We see plants growing from the seed in spring-time, and gradually developing their parts : at length they blossom, bear fruit, and produce seeds like those from which they grew. Shall we commence the study of the plant with the full-grown herb: or tree, adorned with flowers or Jaden with fruit? Or shall we commence with the seedling just rising from the ground? On the whole, we may get a clearer idea of the whole life and structure of plants if we begin at the beginning, that is, with the plantlet springing from the seed, and follow it throughout its course of growth. This also agrees best with the season in which the study of Botany is generally commenced, namely, in the spring of the year, when the growth of plants from the seed can hardly fail to attract attention. Indeed, it is ‘this springing forth of vegeta- tion from seeds and buds, after the rigors of our Jong winter, — clothing the earth’s surface almost at once with a mantle of freshest verdure,— which gives to spring its greatest charm. Even the dullest beholder, the least observant of Nature at other seasons, can then hardly fail to ask: What are plants? How do they live and grow? What do they live upon? What is the object and use of vegetation in general, and of its particular and wonderfully various forms? These questions it is the object of the present Lessons to answer, as far as possible, in a simple way. 13. A reflecting as well as observing person, naticing the re- semblances between one plant and another, might go on to inquire whether ‘plants, with all their manifold diversities of form and appearance, are not all constructed on one and the same general plan. It will become apparent, as we proceed, that this is the case ;— that one common plan may be discerned, which each par- ticular plant, whether herb, shrub, or tree, has followed much more closely than would at first view be supposed. The differences, wide as they are, are merely incidental. What is true in a general way of any spdinany vegetable, will be found to be true of all, only with great variation in the details. In the same language, though in varied phrase, the hundred thousand kinds of plants repeat the same LESSON 2.] GROWTH OF THE PLANT FROM THE SEED. 5 story, — are the living witnesses and illustrations of one and the same plan of Creative Wisdom in the vegetable world. So that the study of any one plant, traced from the seed it springs from round to the seeds it produces, would illustrate the whole subject of vege- table life and growth. It matters little, therefore, what particular plant we begin with. 14. The Germinating Plantlet. Take for example a seedling Maple. Sugar Maples may be found in abundance in many places, starting from the seed (i. e. germinating) in early spring, and Red Maples at the beginning of summer, shortly after the fruits of the season have ripened and fallen to the ground. A pair of narrow green leaves raised on a tiny stem make up the whole plant at its first appearance (Fig. 4). Soon a root appears at the lower end of this stemlet ; then a. little bud at its upper end, between the pair of leaves, which soon grows into a second joint or stem bearing another pair of leaves, resembling the ordinary leaves of the Red Maple, which the first did not. Figures 5 and 6 a these steps-in the growth. 15. Was this plantlet formed in the seed at the time of germination, something as the chick is formed in the egg during the process of incu- bation ? + Or did it exist before in the seed, ready formed? To decide this question, we have only to inspect a sound seed, which in this instance requires no microscope, nor any other instrument than a sharp knife, by which the coats of the seed (previously soaked in water, if dry) may be laid open. We find within the seed, in this case, the little plantlet ready formed, and nothing else (Fig. 2);—namely, a pair of leaves like those of the earliest seedling (Fig. 4), only smaller, borne on a stemlet just like that of the seedling, only much shorter, - . and all snugly, coiled up within the protecting seed-coat. The plant then exists beforehand 4. in the seed, in miniature. It was not formed, but only devel- FIG. 1. A winged fruit of Red Maple, with the seed-bearing portion cut open, to show the zeed. 2. This seed cut open to show the embryo plantlet within, enlarged. 3. The embryo taken out whole, and partly unfulded.e4. The same after it has begun to grow ; of the - natural size. ine 1* 6 GROWTH OF THE PLANT FROM THE SEED. [LESSON 2 oped, in germination ; when it had merely to unfold and grow, — to elongate its rudimentary stem, which takes at the same time an upright position, so as to bring the leaf-bearing end into the light and air, where the two leaves expand; while from the opposite end, now pushed farther downwards into the soil, the root begins to grow. All this is true in the main of all plants that spring from ¢ real seeds, although with great diversity in the particulars. At least, there is hardly an excep- tion to the fact, that the plantlet exists ready formed in the seed, in some shape or other. 16. The rudimentary plantlet contained in the seed is called an Hmbryo. Its little stem is named the Radicle, because it was supposed to be the root, when the difference between the root and stem was not so well known as now. “It were better to name it the Caulicle (i.e. little stem); but it is not expedient to change old names. The seed-leaves it bears on its sum- mit (here two in number) are technically called Cotylédons. ‘The little bud of undeveloped Igaves which is to be found betweert the co- 6 tyledons before germination in many cases (as in the Pea, Bean, Fig. 17,-&c.), has been named the Plumule: 17. In the Maple (Fig. 4), as also in the Morning-Glory (Fig. 28), and the like, this bud, or plumule, is not seen for some days after the seed-leaves are expanded. But soon it appears, in the Maple as a pair of minute leaves (Fig. 5), erelong raised on a stalk which carries them up to some distance above the cotyledons. ‘The plantlet (Fig. 6) now consists, above ground, of two pairs of leaves, viz.: 1. the cotyledons or seed-leaves, borne on the summit of the original stemlet (the radicle); and 2. a pair of ordinary leaves, raised on a second joint of stem which has grown from the top’ of the first. Later, a third pair of leaves is formed, and raised on a third joint of stem, proceeding from the summit of the second (Fig. 7), just as that did from the first; and so on, until the germi- nating plantlet becomes a tree. FIG. 5, Germinating Red Maple, Which has produced its root beneath, and ig developing & second pair of leaves above. 6, Same, further advanced. LESSON 2.] GROWTH OF THE PLANT FROM THE SEED. 7 18. So the youngest seedling, and even the embryo in the seed, ; is already an epitome of the herb or tree. It has a stem, from the lower end of which it strikes root ; and it has leaves. The tree itself in its whole vegetation has nothing more in kind. To become a tree, the plantlet has only to repeat itself upwardly by producing more similar parts, — that is, new por- tions of stem, with new and larger leaves, in succession, — while beneath, it pushes its root deeper and deeper into the soil. 19. The Opposite Growth of Root and Siem began at the beginning of germi- nation, and it continues through the whole life of the plant. While yet buried in the soil, and perhaps in total darkness, as soon as it begins to grow, the stem end of the embryo points_ towards the light, — curving or turning quite round-if it happens to lie in some other direction,— and stretches upwards into the free air and sunshine ; while the root end as uniformly avoids the light; bends in the opposite direction to do so if necessary, and ever seeks to. bury itself more and more in the eartl’s bosom. How the plantlet makes these movements we cannot explain. But the object of this instinct is obvious. It places the plant from the first in the proper position, with its roots in the moist soil, from which they are to absorb néurishment, and its leaves in the light and air, where alone they can fulfil their office of digesting what the roots absorb. 20. So the seedling plantlet finds itself provided with all the organs of vegetation that even the oldest plant possesses, — namely, root, stem, an? leaves; and has these placed in the situation where each is to act, — the root in the soil, the foliage in the light and air. Thus established, the plantlet has only to set about its proper work. 21. The different Mode of Growth of Root and Stem may also be here mentioned. Each grows, not only in a different direction, but in a different way. The stem grows by producing a set of joints, each from FIG. 7. Germinating Red Maple, further developed. 8 GROWTH OF THE PLANT FROM THE SEED. [LESSON 2. the summit of its predecessor; and each joint elongates throughout every part, until it reaches its full length. The root is not composed of joints, and it lengthens only at the end.:. The stem in the embryo (viz. the radicle) has a certain length to begin with. In the pump- kin-seed, for instance (Fig. 9), it is less than an eighth of an inch long: but it grows in a few days to the length of one or two inches (Fig. 10), or still more, if the seed were deeper covered by the soil. It is by this elongation that the seed-leaves are raised out of the soil, so as to expand in the light and air. The length they acquire varies with the depth of the covering. When large and strong seeds are too deeply buried, the stemlet sometimes grows to the length of several inches in the endeavor to bring the seed-leaves to the sur- face. The lengthening of the succeeding joints of the stem serves to separate the leaves, or pairs of leaves, from one another, and to ex- pose them more fully to the light. 22. The root, on the other hand, begins by a new formation at the base of the embryo stem; and it continues to increase in length solely by additions to the extremity, the parts once formed scarcely elongating at all afterwards. This mode of growth is well adapted to the circumstances in which roots are placed, leaving every part undisturbed in the soil where it was formed, while the ever-advan- cing points readily insinuate themselves into the crevices or looser portions of the soil, or pass around the surface of solid obstacles. LESSON 3.] GROWTH OF THE PLANT FROM THE SEED. 9 LESSON JIL GROWTH OF THE PLANT FROM THE SEED. — Continued. 23. Soa plant consists of two parts, growing in a different manner, as well as in opposite directions. “One part, the root, grows down- wards into the soil: it may, therefore, be called the descending axis. The other grows upwards into the light and air: it may be called the ascending axis. The root grows on continuously from the ex- tremity, and so does not consist of joints, nor does it bear leaves, or anything of the kind. The stem grows by a succession of joints, each bearing one or more leaves on its summit. Root on the one ‘hand, and stem with its foliage on the other, make up the whole plantlet as it springs from the seed; and the full-grown herb, shrub, or tree has nothing more in kind, —only more in size and number. Before we trace the plantlet into the herb or tree, some other cases of the growth of the plantlet from the seed should be studied, that we may observe how the same plan is worked out under a variety of forms, with certain differences in the details. The mate- rials for this study are always at hand. We have only to notice what takes place all around us in spring, or to plant some common seeds in pots, keep them warm and moist, and watch their germination. 24. The Germinating Plantlet feeds on Nourishment provided beforehand. The embryo so snugly ensconced in the seed of the Maple (Fig. 2, 3, 4) has from the first a miniature stem, and a pair of leaves already green, or which become green as soon as brought to the light. It has only to form a root by which to fix itself to the ground, when it becomes a perfect though diminutive vegetable, capable of providing for itself. This root can be formed only out of proper material: neither water nor anything else which the plantlet is imbibing from the earth will answer the purpose. The proper material is nourish- ing matter, or prepared food. more or less of which is always pro- vided by the parent plant, and stored up in the seed, either zn the embryo itself, or around it. Inthe Maple, this nourishment is stored up in the thickish cotyledons, or seed-leaves. And there is barely enough of it to make the beginning of a root, and to provide for the lengthening of the stemlet so as to bring up the unfolding seed-leaves where they may expand to the light of day. But when this is done, S&F—2 ‘ 10 GROWTH OF THE PLANT FROM THE SEED. [LESSON 3. the tiny plant is already able to shift for itself ;— that is, to live and continue its growth on what it now takes from the soil and from the air. and elaborates into nourishment in its two green leaves, under the influence of the light of the sun. 25. In most ordinary plants, a larger portion of nourishment is provided beforehand in the seed; and the plantlet consequently is not so early or so entirely left to its own resources. Let us examine a number of cases, selected from very common plants. Sometimes, as has just been stated, we find this 26. Deposit of Food in the Embryo itself, And we may observe it in every gradation as to quantity, from the Maple of our first illus- tration, where there is very little, up to the Pea and the Horsechestnut, where there is as much as there possibly can be. If we strip off the coats from the large and flat seed of a Squash or Pumpkin, we find nothing but the em- bryo within (Fig. 9); and almost the whole bullx of this consists of the two seed-leaves. That these contain a good supply-of nourishing matter, is evident from their sweet taste and from their thickness, although there is not enough to. obscure their leaf-like appearance. It is by feeding on this supply of nour- ishment that the germinating Squash or Pumpkin (Fig. 10) grows so rapidly and so vigorously from the seed, — lengthening its stemlet to more than twenty times the length it had in the seed, and thickening it in proportion, — sending out at once:a number of roots from its lower end, and soon developing the plumule (16) from its upper end into a third leaf: meanwhile the two cotyledons, relieved from the nourishment with which their tissue was gorged, have expanded into useful green leaves: 27. For a stronger instance, take next the seed of a Plum or Peach, or an Almond, or an Apple-seed (Fig. 11, 12), which shows FIG. 9, Embryo of a Pumpkin, of the natural size; the cotyledons a little opened. 10. The same, when it has germinated LESSON 3.] GROWTH OF THE PLANT FROM THE SEED. 11 the same thing on a smaller scale. The embryo, which here also makes up the whole bulk of the kernel of the seed, differs from that of the ‘Pumpkin only in having the seed-leaves more thickened, by the much larger quantity of nourishment stored up in their tissue, — so large and so pure in- deed, that the almond becomes an article of food. Fed by this abundant supply, the second, and even the third joints of the stem, with their leaves, shoot forth as soon as the stemlet comes to the surface of the soil. The Beech-nut (Fig. 13), with its sweet and eatable kernel, consisting mainly of a pair of seed-leaves folded together, and gorged with nourishing matter, offers another instance of the same sort: this ample store to feed upon enables the germinating plantlet to grow with remarkable vigor, and to develop a second joint of stem, with its pair of leaves (Fig. 14), before the first pair has expanded or the root has ob- tained much foothold in the soil. 28. A Bean affords a similar and more familiar illustration. Here the co- tyledons in the seed (Fig. 16) are so thick, that, although they are raised out of ground in thé ordinary way in ger- mination (Fig. 17), and turn greenish, yet they never succeed in becoming-leaf- like, — never display their real nature of leaves, as they do so plainly in the Ma- ple (Fig. 5),the Pumpkin (Fig. 10), the Morning-Glory (Fig. 8, 26-28), &c. Turned to great account as magazines of food for the germinating plantlet, they fulfil this special office admirably, but FIG. 11. An Apple-seed cut through lengthwise, showing the embryo with its thickened cotyledons. 12. The embryo of the Apple, taken out whole, its cotyledons partly separated. FiG. 13. A Beech-nut, cut across. 14. Beginning germination of the Beech; showing the plumule growing before the cotyledons have opened or the root has scarcely formed. 15, The, same, a little later, with the second joimt lengthened, 12 GROWTH OF THE PLANT FROM THE SEED. (LESSON 3. they were so gorged and, as it were, misshapen, that they became quite unfitted to perform the office of foliage. This office is accordingly first performed by the succeeding pair of leaves, those of the plumule (Fig. 17, 18), which is put into rapid growth by the abundant nourishment contained in the large and thick seed-leaves. The latter, having fulfilled this office, soon wither and fall away. 29. This is carried a step farther in the-Pea (Fig. 19, 20), a near relative of the Bean, and in the Oak (Fig. 21, 22), a near relative of the Beech. The differ- ence in these and many other similar cases is this. The cotyledons, which make up nearly the whole bulk of the seed are exces- sively thickened, so as to-become nearly hemispherical in shape. They have lost all likeness to leaves, and all power of ever fulfilling the office of leaves.