THE ROOT. 19 



Annuals are those which last but one year; that is, come up in 

 the spring and die in the autumn, as wheat and barley: biennials are 

 those which produce flowers and seed the second year after their 

 being raised, and then die, as the leek and Canterbury-bell: and 

 perennial plants, are those whose roots last for many years, as with 

 most plants : and these are either evergreen or deciduous, according 

 as they retain or lose their leaves, so that the laurel comes under 

 the former term, and the apple-tree under the meaning of the latter. 

 The duration of plants, is usually characterized in botanical works, 

 by peculiar signs ; thus, 0, signifies an annual; <?, abiennial ; If., a 

 perennial, and i? , a shrub or tree. 



5. In addition to the division of plants already men- 

 tioned, they are again sub-divided into trees, shrubs, or 

 herbs, depending either upon their magnitude or other 

 essential differences. 



Treet are the largest productions of the vegetable kingdom, con- 

 sisting of a single trunk, out of which spring forth branches, as the 

 oak : shrubs are a lesser production than trees, which instead of one 

 single trunk, frequently send forth from the same root many sets or 

 stems, as the honeysuckle ; and herbs are those plants, whose stalks 

 die away every year, as the sunflower and many others. 



1. The root is that part of the plant, by which it 

 attaches itself to the earth, or to the substance on 

 which it feeds, and is the principal organ of nutrition. 



2. The roots of plants, have been numerously related 

 as species very different from each other, but the dis- 

 tinctions of spindle-shaped, truncated, fibrous, ramose, bulbous 

 and tuberous, are perfectly sufficient. 



3. The spindle-shaped root is that kind which tapers 



