li INTRODCUTION TO BOTANY. 
10. All these compound organs, in some shape or other, exist at some period of 
the life of most, if a aay flowering-plants, technically called phanogamous or pha- 
nerogamous-plants ; which all bear jlowers of more or less complex structure, and are 
all propagated by seeds containing a germ or embryo-plantlet. Flowerless or erypto- 
gamic-plants (Ferns, Mosses, Fungi, Lichens, Seaweeds, &c.) have either very im- 
perfect representatives of flowers, or are absolutely flowerless ; and are invariably 
propagated, not by seeds, but by spores, which do not contain any distinct germ or 
embryo 
11. The elementary organs will be described afterwards ; we shall consider the 
compound under the following heads: Root, Rootstock, Stem, Leaves, Stipules, 
Bractee, Inflorescence, Flower, Perianth, Disc, Pistil, Ovule, Receptacle, Fruit, 
Seed. 
§ 2. The Root. 
12. The primary Root or descending-axis grows downwards from the base of the 
stem, divides and spreads in the earth or water, and absorbs food for the plant 
through the extremities of its branches. : 
13. Roots ordinarily produce neither buds nor leaves ; their branches, called fibres 
when slender and long, proceed irregularly from any part of their surface ; and they 
encrease in length by constant small additions to their extremities. 
14. Though roots proceed usually from the base of the stem or root-stock, they 
may be formed at the base of any bud, especially if the bud lie along the ground, or 
if placed in circumstances favourable for their development. 
= Shei 'thily cates chinllp-ol cltnder Secs 
ia cdma’ hd ae ; 
per Wiearelier the main root or its branches are thickened into short, 
fleshy or woody masses called tubers ; : 
tap-roots, when the main root descends perpendicularly, emitting only very 
few fibrils, as in the carrot. 
§ 3. The Root-stock or Rhizome. 
16. The Stock of a herbaceous perennial, in its complete state, includes a small 
portion of the summits of the previous year’s roots, as well as of the base of the pre- 
vious year’s stems. Such stocks will encrease yearly so as at length to form dense 
tufts. They will often preserve through the winter a few leaves, amongst which 
are placed the buds, which grow out into stems the following year, whilst the under- 
side of the stock emits new roots from or amongst the remains of the old ones. _ 
These perennial stocks only differ from the permanent base of an undershrub in the ~ 
shortness of the perennial part of the stems, and in their usually less woody texture. 
17. In some perennials the stock consists merely of a branch, which issues in 
autumn from the base of the stem, either above-ground or under-ground, and pro- 
duces one or more buds. This branch, or a portion of it, alone survives the winter. 
Tn the following year its buds produce the new stem and roots, whilst the rest of the 
plant has died away. These annual-stocks, called sometimes hybernacula, offsets, or 
stoles, keep up the communication between the annual stem and root of one year and 
those of the following year, thus forming altogether a perennial plant. 
18. The stock, whether annual or perennial, is often entirely under ground, or 
root-like. To this some botanists limit the terms rovistock or rhizome. 
19. The term tuber is applied to a short, thick, succulent root-stock, as well as to 
. te of Soe cn eed oR by some called a knob, is an an- 
nual tuberous rootstock with one at the top. A us 
pricy Rt several buds. f poe | see tale 
20. 6 is a sub-globose or conical rootstock, formed chiefly of the fleshy bases 
of the leaves of the preceding year, or of the undeveloped leaves of the farere year, 
or of both ; it emits roots from its base, and a stem and foliage from its centre, and 
frequently forms bulb-lets or offsets in the axils of its scales. 
21. Bulbs are, s 
a a ef soe thick, narrow, and loosely imbricated, as in the — 
tunicated, when the scales are thin, broad, and closely rolled round in concen- 
tric layers, as in the onion. 
