94 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 



The asparagus, when it makes its dbut, is of a 

 bluish or purplish color, and the sprouting beets 

 are of a rich Tyrian red, too sumptuous for such 

 plebeians. 



But as soon as the leaves come out into the 

 sunlight, chlorophyll begins to form in them, and 

 they grow greener and greener. 



In some of the smaller fresh-water algae the 

 chlorophyll bodies are flattened plates of very dis- 

 tinctive and beautiful forms (Fig. 17). But those 

 which color the leaves of the wood are generally 

 disk-shaped or oval, and are often called " grains" 

 of chlorophyll. 



Whatever its shape, the chlorophyll body consists 

 of two substances, the green coloring-matter itself, 

 and a small, dense, jelly-like mass which holds it. 



If a leaf is put into alcohol the spirit draws 

 the coloring-matter out of the chlorophyll bodies, 

 and the leaf gradually becomes pallid while the 

 liquor in which it flows shows a deepening tinge of 

 green. 



Now if we examine a piece of the leaf tissue 

 with a powerful microscope we shall see that the 

 chlorophyll bodies are still there, and are un- 

 changed in form and size, but the green pigment 

 which tinted them is gone. 



