CHAPTER VIII 



STRUCTURE OF 

 HIGHER PLANTS 



Photomicrograph of corn 

 stem. 



Photomicrograph of woody 

 stem. 



What is meant by physiological division of labor? Does each plant 

 cell of a higher plant live independently or are the cells dependent 

 on each other? Why can one type of cell perform a function better 

 than another type? What advantages have higher plants over simpler? 



Social division of labor. In any civilized community certain 

 individuals perform one type of labor more efficiently than others. 

 There are seamstresses to make clothes, shoemakers to make shoes, 

 milliners to make hats, engineers to run trains, clerks to perform 

 clerical Avork, typists to typewrite, and numerous other specialists, 

 each performing a specific work. The people who are most suc- 

 cessful are those who are particularly fitted or adapted for their 

 positions, either through special training, natural talent, or size. 

 More efficient work is accomplished in less time when it is divided 

 among specialists than if each man had to do all the work himself. 

 Similar to the division of labor among people in the industrial 

 world, there are in our bodies numerous activities that are car- 

 ried on by various structures especially adapted for that work. 



Physiological division of labor. There is physiological division 

 of labor in all plants and animals. The amoeba, Paramecium, 

 Pleurococcus, Spirogyra, and countless other plants and animals 

 are sufficient each in itself. Each with its one cell, by means of 

 specialized protoplasm, performs all the activities and processes 



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