INTRODUCTION TO BOTANY 



CHAPTER I 

 INTRODUCTORY 



1. Interest in plants. All people are in some way interested 

 in plants, although not every one recognizes that he has this 

 interest. We all live largely on plants or plant products, and 

 most of the world's workers earn their livelihood by some 

 kind of industry which deals with plants or with their prod- 

 ucts. A glance at the food on any well-furnished table will 

 suggest to what an extent our daily bill of fare consists of 

 vegetable substances. Our animal foods meat, milk, eggs, 

 fish, and the rest are only plant foods transf omied more 

 or less directly into animal tissues or animal secretions. Our 

 spices and flavors and most of our medicines are plant sub- 

 stances or extracts. Part of our clothing is made from plant 

 material. Our houses are often almost wholly constructed 

 from timber, the furnishings are made from timber, and a 

 home is scarcely complete without some growing plants, 

 which assist in decorating the house and in giving pleasure 

 to the occupants. 



How raw materials derived from plants underlie most of 

 the world's great industries cannot adequately be shown in a 

 single paragraph. It is quite evident that the farmer, the 

 gardener, the lumberman, the carpenter, the paper-maker, the 

 cotton manufacturer, and the sail-maker are dealing with 

 plants or with materials that are derived from them, but the 

 multitudes of workers who make their living by sinking and 

 operating oil wells, by refining petroleum, by mining and 



