CHAPTER V. 



FLORAL DIPLOMACY. 



It is the reproductive organs of plants which usually 

 afford most pleasure to our aesthetic sense. The 

 details of these parts have already been referred to. 

 Most species of plants could not be perpetuated 

 without the act of flowering, although a compara- 

 tively few have discovered a knack of developing 

 new individuals without resorting to this generally 

 adopted plan. Perhaps it would be as well to note 

 the exceptions first. 



The Potato suggests itself immediately to one's 

 mind as a type. It is an underground bud, richly 

 supplied by the parent plant with starch and food, 

 just as other plants supply the seed-lobes (coty- 

 ledons) with food-stuffs. Its " eyes " are the young 

 sprouts, and we can actually separate a single 

 potato into several individuals when planting, if we 

 take care not to cut across any of these parts, but 

 between them. All tubers have the same privilege 

 as the potato, of being able to reproduce the species 



