276 GLIMPSES IXTO PLANT-LIFE 



reproductive ors^ans, ai^ain, we briefly explained 

 in connection with their natural history. 



In order to arrange our studies systematically, 

 we may divide the physiology or function of plants 

 into groups, and, taking each group separately 

 study their effect on the plant. 



We may then divide the functions of plants into 

 Nutrition, 

 Assimilation, and 

 Reproduction. 



The first teaches us how a plant feeds and what 

 it feeds upon ; the second, how the food is 

 prepared by the plant so as to enable it to use 

 this food for growth and to store some of it away 

 for future use. The third group deals with the 

 various means adopted by plants for multiplying 

 and increasing the species. 



Plants, like animals, must /crcf and breathe in 

 order to live ; the food of plants, however, differs 

 from that of animals in being more simple and 

 elementary. 



Plant food is of two kinds, water and gas. 

 Water is an actual necessity to the plant, both as 

 a direct food and as a medium to convey inorganic 



