THE LIFE-HISTORY 



The life-history of a plant, like that of a person, 

 is a cycle — birth, childhood, middle age, reproduction, 

 and death — but since it is a cycle botanists begin some- 

 times at one place and sometimes at another and trace 

 the history until they come around to the point from 

 which they started. Theoretically it might be best to 

 begin with the fertilized egg, then study the develop- 

 ment of the embryo, the seedhng, the adult plant, the 

 appearance of sperms and eggs, and then the fertilization 

 of the egg, the stage with which we started; but we shall 

 begin with the adult plant, then study the reproductive 

 features leading to fertilization, the development of the 

 embryo, and finally the seedling, which gradually 

 reaches the adult stage. 



