BOTAK 



SYLVA AMERICANA. 



PART I. 



VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 



By a vegetable, we mean an organized body possessing 

 vitality, power of growth and reproduction, deriving its nourish- 

 ment directly from the earth, or from substances in which earthy 

 matter is more or less present, but without perceptive powers, 

 or voluntary locomotion ; the two latter properties belonging 

 exclusively to animals, and forming the principal line of dis- 

 tinction. 



Hence every living substance of the above description, 

 whether it be a tree, a shrub, an herb, a grass, or a flower, 

 is in reality a vegetable ; and the whole, taken together, 

 constitutes what is termed the vegetable kingdom. Of these, 

 nearly one hundred thousand species, each possessing its own 

 peculiarities, form and laws, have already been discovered, and 

 the list is annually increasing. The subject, therefore, inde- 

 pendently of its practical application, is one of deep interest 

 and importance ; and the more it be examined, the greater field 

 we find for inquiry, and an increased reason for admiring the 

 contrivance, wisdom and benevolence, by which this interesting 

 portion of the universe has been regulated. 

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