SECT. I. THE ROOT. 27 S 



But one of the most curious and singular ano- Inverted 

 malies throughout the whole of the vegetable king- 

 dom is that by which a plant may be made to 

 grow though inverted, the root being transformed 

 into a stem and branches ; and the stem and 

 branches into a root. If the stem of a young 

 Plum or Cherry-tree, but particularly of a Willow, 

 is taken in the autumn and bent so as that one half 

 of the top may be laid in the earth, one half of the 

 root being at the same time taken carefully out, 

 but sheltered at first from the cold and then gra- 

 dually exposed to it, and the remaining part of the 

 top and root subjected to the same process in the 

 following year; the branches of the top will be- 

 come roots, and the ramifications of the root will 

 become branches, protruding leaves, flowers, and 

 fruit in due season. 



But it has been already seen in treating of the 

 germination of the seed, that no power or art is 

 capable of converting the radicle into the plumelet ; 

 or the plumelet into the radicle. How then is the 

 anomaly of the inversion of the plant to be ac- 

 counted for, at a future stage of its growth ? Per- 

 haps it may be accounted for thus. The embryo 

 of the seed is an individual germe, whose develope- 

 ment is necessarily effected in a determinate man- 

 ner, owing to its peculiar structure and organization, 

 But that happens to be by the descent of the ra- 

 dicle into the earth, and ascent of the plumelet 

 into the air. It could not, therefore, succeed by 



