INTRODUCTION ; 
of the latter the stem and leaves usually die down in 
winter, their office performed, their services no longer 
required. 
The perennials, too, since they will not renew 
activity till next spring, if herbaceous, die down to 
the root, which is protected from frost and cold by 
the earth in which it grows. 
The leaves of the deciduous trees and shrubs fall 
off after their blazonry of autumn tints has faded and 
gone. 
A corky layer is formed at the base of the petiole, 
and the leaf in due course falls, the scar left being 
already protected. 
The evergreens are left as sole reminder that 
leaves play a great part in our landscape, as they do 
in the life of the plant, but during winter they 
are more or less dormant, like the hibernating 
dormouse or butterfly. 
THE HABITS OF PLANTS. 
Two factors as a whole regulate the habit of plants— 
their requirements and the influence of one plant upon 
another, or the struggle for existence. In the first 
place the division of the earth into land and water at 
once causes a division of plants into land plants and 
water plants. Each of these main groups has a 
typical habit depending upon the character of the 
surrounding element. 
Thus land plants are, as a rule, rigid, erect, with 
