20 ENGLISH WILD FLOWEBS. 



and in form from the later leaves, but they differ in 

 various species from one another in a less degree than 

 the true leaves. Through these leaves the little stem 

 bears aloft the plant of the future ; and by the aid of 

 the sugary compound called dextrine, formed by the 

 seed-leaves and the moisture of the earth and atmo- 

 sphere, the rootlets and the plant grow and flourish, 

 until the exhausted seed-leaves wither away, and the 

 plant assumes an independent existence. Prior to 

 this it had a simple parasitical existence. It now 

 changes its organism with a change of diet, and the 

 stage of infancy is past. 



From the earth and atmosphere alone the plant now 

 derives its store of food. The rootlet sends forth its 

 tiny white fibres in search of food. The stem ascends 

 into the air, binding as it goes its fibres together in 

 separate cylindrical beds by the bark or skin. At 

 regular and definite points the leaves appear, and 

 through their surface the fibres of the wood permeate 

 as veins, veinlets, and capillaries, connected directly 

 with the fibres of the stem and roots, and thus form- 

 ing a direct channel of communication from one ex- 

 tremity of the plant to the other. Like the blood iu 

 the human veins, the sap is carried through the whole 



