BOTANY 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTORY 



OF all the things we see about us as soon as we escape 

 from the life and surroundings of the town, none is more 

 familiar to us than the common green plant. We 

 tread upon grass and other plants which clothe the 

 earth's surface, we walk under trees, around bushes, and 

 by the sides of hedges, or we wander through more 

 cultivated scenes, enjoying the beauty and fragrance of 

 the well-cared-for garden. In all this wealth of vegeta- 

 tion perhaps, however, one fact sometimes escapes our 

 notice. These plants, trees, shrubs, weeds, or what not 

 are alive. We do not deny this when we hear it said, 

 but the idea is hardly a prominent one in the view we 

 take of things in general. It is based probably on the 

 fact that we do not see the plants move, except as their 

 slender twigs and branches or their numerous leaves are 

 swayed to and fro by the wind, for to our own some- 

 what narrow experience life is so closely connected with' 

 restless change of position or locomotion. Yet if we 

 wish to study plants to learn something more about 

 them than a casual glance can tell us, we must bear in 

 mind these two facts on which their whole story turns : 

 first, they are living creatures ; second, they spend their 

 lives in the same place in which they commenced them. 

 This is true of the greater number of plants we see 

 around us, though there are some exceptions, chiefly 



7 



