EXAMINATION OF A BUTTERCUP. 6 



nearly white. Then it is not of the same form as the 

 part of the plant above ground. It is made up of a num- 

 ber of thread-like parts which spread out in all directions, 

 and if you examine one of these threads through your 

 magnifying glass, you will find that from its surface are 

 given off many finer threads, called rootlets. These 

 latter are of great importance to the plant ; it is largely 

 by means of their tender extremities, and the parts 

 adjacent to these, that it imbibes the nutritious fluids 

 contained in the soil. 



Whilst you are looking at these delicate rootlets, you 

 may perhaps wonder that they should be able to make 

 their way through the soil, but how they do this will be 

 apparent to you if you examine the tip of one of them 

 with a microscope of considerable power. Fig. 2 repre- 

 sents such a tip highly magnified. It is to 

 be observed that the growth of the rootlet 

 does not take place at the very extremity, 

 6 but immediately behind it. The extreme 

 a tip consists of harder and firmer matter than 

 Fig. 2. that behind, and is in fact a sort of cap or 

 thimble to protect the growing part underneath. As 

 the rootlets grow, this little thimble is pushed on first 

 through the crevices of the soil, and, as you may sup- 

 pose, is soon worn away on the outside, but it is as 

 rapidly renewed by the rootlet itself on the inside. 



Another difference between the root and the part 

 above ground you will scarcely have failed to discover : 

 the root has no leaves, nor has it any buds. 



You may describe the root of the Buttercup as fibrous. 



Fig 2 Extremity of rootlet ; a, the harder tip ; ft, the growing portion be- 

 hind the tip. 



