1^' Dk A. Braun on the Vegetable Individual. 



niiiihce ^') is formed before the leaves, while the latter, emerging ' 

 as developments of the upper surface of the stem, are evidently 

 members dependent upon and belonging to the axis, and form- 

 ing with it one whole. Hence the structure of the internodes 

 may be more aptly compared with the lateral structure of the 

 animal body, and that of the leaves with its terminal structure. 

 Thus we arrive at the shoot; and we must investigate the 

 question, whether it should be considered as what corresponds 

 best with the animal individual, or whether we must ascend still 

 farther, up to the whole plant-stock. '"'".' 



31' ■ "> 



r^ The Shoot as the Vegetable Individual. .^^ 



The fii'st and most common view is that which considers the 

 individual in plants, as in animals, to be merely each single spe- 

 cimen, i. e. each representative of the species which appears to 

 be one whole from the connexion of its parts. To some extent 

 this view is correct, for in a forest of trees of the same genus and 

 species, in a meadow, or in a corn-field, each single tree, each 

 stock of grass or of grain, appears as a single member of its 

 species, as each single beast does in a flock of animals forming 

 a community. But the question arises whether these individual 

 beings, regarded as such in this superficial way, can each be 

 considered individuals in the same sense. When the flocks or 

 societies of animals are numerous, as in an apiary, each hive or 

 swarm will appear as an individual member of its species, and 

 the more so in proportion to the closeness of the connexion be- 

 tween the members of such a community. Many flocks of ani- 

 mals whose members are organically connected during life, have 

 until lately been considered to be individual animals ; and even 

 when the separation of the individuals is more complete, such 

 conceptions are to a certain extent justified as long as the com- 

 munity is really a natural growth — when in fact it consists of 

 members of one single stock — and we are not surprised to find 

 that the oldest history of the human race describes the family 

 itself, and the tribe which springs from it, as one person, named 

 after its patriarch. As regards the plant-stock, even a superficial 

 examination shows us peculiarities which will hardly allow us to 

 consider it as an individual in the precise meaning of the term, 

 and which calls upon us carefully to consider whether it is to be 

 regarded as such an individual, or merely as an individual in the 

 broader sense, — as one united family. Even our feelings aroused 

 by the sight of the most ramified plant-stocks, — especially by 

 a tree with its numerous branches, with the thousands of 

 blossoms and fruits which it bears, and the numberless buds 

 through which it will deck itself again in the following year with 



