BOTANY FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS 



PART I THE PLANT ITSELF 



CHAPTER I 



THE PLANT AS A WHOLE 



V 



1. A plant is a living, growing thing. It partakes of 

 the soil and air and sunshine. It propagates its kind and 

 covers the face of the earth. It has much with which to 

 contend. It makes the most of every opportunity. We 

 shall learn its parts, how it lives, and how it responds. 



2. The Parts of a Plant. Our familiar plants are made 

 up of several distinct parts. The most prominent of these 

 parts are root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit and seed. (Fig. 2.) 

 Familiar plants differ wonderfully in size and shape, from 

 fragile mushrooms, delicate water-weeds and pond-scums, 

 to floating leaves, soft grasses, 



coarse weeds, tall bushes, 

 slender climbers, gigantic 

 trees, and hanging moss. See 

 frontispiece. 



3. The Stem Part. In 

 most of the familiar plants 

 there is a main central part 

 or shaft on which the other 

 or secondary parts are borne. 

 This main part is the plant 

 axis. Above ground, in famil- 

 iar plants, the axis bears 



2. The parts of a plant, root, stem, 

 leaves, pods (or fruit, following the 

 flower). Bean. 



(1) 



