254 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



to act as organs of great activity in the vegetative work of the plant. 

 Through them carbon dioxide and oxygen are taken in from the air 

 and united, in the green cells, with water and nitrogenous matter 

 absorbed from the soil by the root hairs. The carbon dioxide and 

 water unite to form carbohydrates such a starch and sugar, and oxygen 

 which is given off as a waste product. The carbohydrates and other 

 food products, proteids manufactured in the leaves, are transported to 

 regions of growth, such as buds, or places of storage, like underground 

 stems. Before being transported to growing points, the insoluble pro- 

 ducts are digested or changed to soluble forms, starch being changed 

 to sugar and then transformed into various plant tissues. If carried 

 to storage regions they are first converted back into insoluble forms, 



Showy Lady's Slipper {Cypripedmm xj)ectabilf). 



such as starch, and then stored up to supply energy for the rapid 

 development of the next spring. 



Picking the flowers of the bloodroot destroys the only possible 

 chance of those particular flowers producing seed which may be able to 

 survive and reproduce their kind. Destroying the leaves or the root- 

 stock interferes with subsequent growth of the plant. 



Herbaceous perennials, that is soft-stemmed plants which live on 

 and produce flowers season after season, die down to the ground each 

 fall and in the spring send forth shoots from the l)uds which are just 

 under the surface. Those which blossom earliest have the largest 



