54 



OF THE ROOT. 



Fig. 16. 



4th. Creepwg 

 root (Radix re- 

 pens.) (Fig. 16.) 

 This root, instead 

 of forcing its way 

 perpendicularly in- 

 to the earth, ex- 

 tends horizontally, 

 and sends out fi- 

 bres. It is very tenacious of life, as any part of it containing 

 a joint will grow. This root is sometimes useful, by its fibres 

 spreading and interlacing themselves, and thus rendering a soil 

 more permanent. Holland would be liable to be washed away 

 by the action of water were it not that its coasts are bound 

 together by these and other plants. This root will grow in 

 sandy, light soils, wliich scarcely produce any other vegetation. 



5th. Gran- 

 ulated root 

 (Radix gra- 

 ,nulata.)(. 

 ,17.) This 

 consists, of 

 little bulbs 



or tubers, strung together by a thread-like radicle ; this form 

 approaches to that of some varieties of the tuberous. 



Fig. 18. 



6th. Tuberous root 

 Radix tuberosa.) 



^ig. 18.) This kind 

 of root is hard, solid, 

 and fleshy; it con- 

 sists of one knob or 

 tuber ; as in the po- 

 tatoe,a; or of many 

 such connected by 

 means of a number 

 of strings or fila- 

 ments, as in the arti. 

 choke,*. These tu- 

 bers are reservoirs 

 of moisture, nourish. 

 ment and vital en- 

 ergy. The potatoe 

 is in reality, but an 

 excrescence, pro- 

 ceeding from the 



Creeping rootIts importance in Holland Granulated root Tuberous root. 



