LECT. IV.] THE ROOT. 



which occurs in a few herbaceous plants, and 

 which has misled some Botanists to describe it 

 erroneously in these instances, as an articulated 

 or scaly jointed root, depends on the following 

 circumstance, which was first noticed and de- 

 scribed by Dr. Grew*. In the Primrose, Pri- 

 mula veris, for example, the root is abrupt ; 

 but as the lower leaves of the plant annually decay 

 and fall, they leave a small portion of their basis 

 d. at the place of their 



attachment, which 

 swells and becomes 

 more succulent ; and 

 the plant sinking in 

 the ground, lateral fi- 

 bres are protruded 

 above each of these 

 portions ; so that the 

 buried part of the root, 

 owing to a similar de- 

 cay and sinking annu- 

 ally taking place, gra- 

 dually assumes the 

 character of a long 

 caudex, and the whole 

 bears a strong resem- 

 blance to a notched 

 or articulated root. See (fig. d.) a, the present year's 



* Anatomy of Plants. 

 K3 



