CHAPTER II 
THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PLANTS 
If we look about in nature we are. confronted at once with 
many kinds of living objects called plants, but the more familiar 
ones to the beginner in Botany are the higher green plants such 
as the common herbs, shrubs and trees of field, meadow or 
woodland. Each of these is a living entity or ORGANIsM which 
has descended from a parent or parents with an ancestry and 
which is capable of carrying out all of the life processes which are 
essential to its existence and to the perpetuation of its species or 
kind. Each is composed of Orcans whose life processes are 
separate but mutually dependent and essential to the healthful 
maintenance of the individual, and the continuation of its kind. 
These organs are the Roots, Stems, Leaves, F LOWERS, 
Fruits and Seeps. The roots, stems and leaves are so con- 
structed as to carry out the VEGETATIVE PRocessEs, Be, the 
activities which have to do with the maintenance and protection 
of the individual, whereas the flowers, fruits and seeds are 
structurally adapted to the carrying out of the REPRODUCTIVE 
Processes or the activities which have to do with the continuance 
of the species of the plant of which the individual is a 
representative. : 
PARTS OF THE PLant Bopy.—The parts of the body of a higher 
green plant are the Axis and AppENDAGEs. The axis consists of 
an usually aerial portion or SreM and an underground portion or 
Root. The appendages include the Leaves, BRANCHES, EMER- 
GENCES such as prickles, and the Hairs. 
The Roor grows down into the soil and anchors the plant, 
absorbs water with nutrient salts in solution and stores food to 
tide the plant over the season when growth activity is suspended. 
It represents the descending axis. The Stem grows upward 
and so represents the ascending axis of the plant. Its special 
processes are those of bearing and supporting leaves, branches 
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