LECT. V.] THE ROOT. 199 



7000 persons. MILTON has immortalized the 

 Banyan, by describing it as the tree under which 

 our first parents retired to hide themselves after 

 their fall : 



They chose 



The Fig-tree ; not that kind for fruit renown'd, 

 But such as, at this day to Indians known 

 In Malabar or Decan, spreads her arms 

 Branching so broad and long, that in the ground 

 The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow 

 About the mother tree, a pillar's shade 

 High over-arch'd, and echoing walks between : &c. 



Paradise Lost. 



The structure of roots does not differ materially 

 from that of the trunk and branches ; we may, 

 therefore, reserve the minute examination of that 

 part of our subject until we come to treat of these 

 organs ; and, at present, notice only their general 

 structure *. All roots are either ligneous or fleshy. 

 The ligneous belong to trees and shrubs, and are 

 composed of an epidermis or scarf-skin, a cutis 

 or bark, a vascular system, woody matter, and 

 pith. The fleshy, which belong to herbaceous 



* The analogy, indeed, is so close, that a tree may be in- 

 verted so as to change the roots into branches, bearing leaves 

 and flowers, and the branches into roots producing radicles. 

 This fact has been frequently proved, by repeating the experi- 

 ment (first tried by Du Hamel) of planting a tree with the 

 branches in the ground, and leaving the roots in the air ; after 

 a season the buried branches produce radicles, and the roots 

 raised in the air give out buds, stems, and leaves. 



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