ii.] BOTANY. 



parts : root, stem, leaves, flowers, which latter 

 are succeeded by fruit, containing seed. Most 

 flowering plants have roots ; all have stems, though 

 these may be reduced to a mere knob on the top of 

 the root : some few have no proper leaves, as the 

 dodder, and plants which, like it, feed on the juices 

 of others : many never have but one bud, which is a 

 flower-bud : but all must have a flower or flowers, 

 though these may be of a very simple nature. 



3, The organs of flowering plants may be classed 

 according to their relation to one another under two 

 divisions : (a) an axis, of which the root is the 

 descending and the stem the ascending part; and 

 (b) appendages of the axis, which are the leaves, 

 and the parts of the flowers. 



4. They may also be classed according to their 

 uses (functions) as follows : (a) for support, the 

 root and stem ; (b) for nourishment, the root and 

 leaves; (c) for reproduction, seeds, buds that 

 separate from the plant, flowers, fruit. 



This division is evidently a very rough one ; for 

 while the root is often the sole organ of support, 

 fixing the plant to the ground and holding it upright, 

 other plants are supported wholly or in part by their 

 climbing or twining stems (convolvulus), by tendrils 

 (vine), by twisting leaf-stalks (clematis) and even 

 flower-stalks, by hooked prickles' (brambles), by sticky 

 glands, and in the case of water-plants by floats 

 containing air. 



The root and leaves are the chief organs of nutri- 

 tion, but all green parts of the plant are so to 

 some extent. 



The seeds are the principal means of reproducing 



