THE I'HYSIOI.Ol.Y 01- I'l.AXTS 2H9 



should imiltipl}- and be fruilful, life of ain- sort is 

 of limited duration, and subject to all the \icissi- 

 tudes of accident, ctJiistitution, and climate, and 

 so wc find that plants ha\e been endowed with 

 wonderful powers of reproduction in order that the 

 earth ma\- be constant!)- clothed with \egctation, 

 necessar)' for the life of man and all animal 

 nature. 



By reproduction I want my readers to clearl)' 

 understand the power possessed b\- the individual 

 plant to multipl}- its kind or species ; and this 

 power is carried into effect in a variet}' of wa}'s 

 in different species. These \arious methods of 

 reproduction then will occupy the concluding 

 pages of this chapter. The protoplasm (or hfe 

 principle of any indi\idual plant is endowed 

 with the power of gi\ing rise to an entire!}- new 

 indixidual. This is accomplished Lii one of two 

 wa\-s. In tlic first b\- cells forming a part of the 

 plant, but >'et not speciall}- modified for the pur- 

 ]K)se of reproduction. This mode of increase is 

 l<nown as vegetatixe reproduction. Wc will illus- 

 trate it by two examples widel\- apart. Many 

 lowly plants like protococcus the bright green 



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