AND ITS DIFFERENT KINDS. 105 



mant, which season therefore is proper for 

 their transplantation. After they have begun 

 to throw out new fibres, it is more or less 

 dangerous, or even fatal, to remove them. 

 Very young annual plants, as they form 

 new fibres with great facility, survive trans- 

 plantation tolerably well, provided they re- 

 ceive abundant supplies of water by the 

 leaves till the root has recovered itself. 



Botanists distinguish several different kinds 

 of roots, which are necessary to be known, 

 not only for botanical purposes, but as being 

 of great importance in agriculture and gar- 

 dening. The generality of roots may be 

 arranged under the following heads. 



1. Radix fibrosa. A Fibrous Root. The most 

 simple in its nature of all, consisting only 

 of fibres, either branched or undivided, 

 which convey nourishment directly to the 

 basis of the stem or leaves. Many grasses, 

 asPoaannua, Engl. Hot. t. 1141, and the 

 greater part of annual herbs, have this kind 

 of root. The radical fibres of grasses that 

 grow in loose sand are remarkably downy, 

 possibly for the purpose of fixing them more 



