PLANT 



4697 



PLANT 



THE STORY OF PLANTS 



LANT, any living thing which is not an 

 animal. To define a plant as "any member of 

 tho vegetable kingdom" is to move in a circle, 

 for the vegetable kingdom can only be defined 

 as "the general name given to all plants." The 

 exact dividing line between animals and phnts 

 the most skilful scientist has never been able 

 to draw, so simple are the lowest forms of 

 both. Almost anyone, if asked suddenly to 

 the distinction between a plant and an 

 animal, would probably say "An animal can 

 move; a plant cannot." But a little thought 

 v.s that that is not a true distinction. Many 

 animals among the lower forms, such as the 

 adult sea squirts, remain fixed all thoir 1 

 while, on tho other hand, many plants move 

 without the help of any outside agency. For 

 instance, the sensitive plant closes its leaves 

 if they are touched; the Venus's-flytrap shuts 

 upon an intruding insect as unfailingly as a 

 horse moves its ear to drive away the trouble- 

 some fly ; and the tendrils of any climbing plant 

 coil about the nearest support. About all 

 that, can be said definitely is, as one author 

 puts it. that "most animals move more freely 

 than do ni(x*t plants." 



In the article ANIMAL are discussed the chief 



11 plants and animals- th. 



gases which they take into their 



"lungs," thru- methods of digesting food and, 



important indeed, thrir choice of food. 



In tin- last-named respect it may almost be 



said that the plant i- intermediate between the 



mineral and th-- animal kingdom, for it can take 



up and use mineral matter directly, while most 



animals live wholly upon other organisms. 



Widespread Distribution of Plants. Few are 

 the places, either on land or in the shallower 

 plants of some sort do not oc- 

 cur. The pi. ,sm- de- 



posits of salt or alkali, or long-continued ex- 

 tremes of heat and cold are almost the only 

 conditions which make it impossible for plants 

 to live. Of course they are not equally nu- 

 merous everywhere, nor have they much re- 

 semblance under widely-differing conditions. 

 The dusty, scattered sagebrush of the western 

 deserts is as truly a form of growing plant 

 life as is the most luxuriant hardwood tree of 

 the tropical forest; it has learned to adapt 

 itself to the unfavorable conditions under which 

 it finds itself. The cactus, also a resident of 

 the desert, has thick, juicy leaves which store 

 up moisture and enable it to live for long 

 seasons without rain, just as the camel's pecul- 

 iar stomach structure permits it to go for days 

 without drinking. Plants that live in very cold 

 regions, like some of the pines, have developed 

 narrow leaves which present little surface to 

 the frosty air, and which have, moreover, hard 

 protecting coverings. Infinite is the variety of 

 these special forms that have developed among 

 plants to fit them for special conditions of life. 

 and no phase of botany is more interesting. 



One branch of the subject of plant lii 

 cerns the everywhere-present and generally ob- 

 noxious class of plants known as weeds. It 

 might appear that these pests are lower in 

 the scale of development than the beautiful 

 and useful plants of the garden, but such is 

 not the case. On the contrary, it is simply 

 because they are so highly developed that 

 they are able to adapt themselves to all sorts 

 of conditions and to thrive without 



Importance of Plants. In general, the value 

 of plants is so obvious that it would poem 

 unnecessary to refer to it, but only on examina- 

 tion is it evident just how important they 

 really are. Directly or indirectly irnal 



in the world is dependent upon plants for 



