182 THE STORY OF THE PLANTS. 



where they are wanted for the growth of fresh 

 organs. It supports and raises the whole plant 

 colony. Finally, it stores up material in drought 

 or winter, which it uses for new branches, leaves, 

 or flowers, when rain or spring or favourable 

 conditions in due time come round again. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



SOME PLANT BIOGRAPHIES. 



WE have considered so far the various ele- 

 ments which go to make up the life of plants 

 how they eat and drink, how they digest and 

 assimilate, how they marry and get fertilised, how 

 they produce their fruit and set their seeds, final- 

 ly how they are linked together in all their parts 

 by stem and vessels into a single community. 

 But up to the present moment we have con- 

 sidered these elements in isolation only, as so 

 many processes the union of which makes up 

 what we call the life of an oak, or a lily, or a 

 strawberry plant. In order really to understand 

 how all these principles work together in prac- 

 tical action, we ought to take a few specimen lives 

 of real concrete plants, and trace them through 

 direct, from the cradle to the grave, with all their 

 vicissitudes. I propose, therefore, in this chapter 

 to give you brief sketches of one or two such life- 

 histories ; and I hope these few hints may encour- 

 age you to find out many more for yourself, by 

 personal study of plants in their native sur- 

 roundings. 



" In their native surroundings," I say, since 



