03 CHARACTER OF ROOTS. 



which produce plants, as with the orchis tribe. Bulbous roots are 

 taken up once in two years, as new ones formed under or over old 

 ones are too deep in the soil or too near the surface. These are bulb 

 bearing roots, the fibrous part being truly a root. They continue the 

 old ones, while a new plant is only produced by seeds. 



The cut shows a bulb-bearing root also a 

 sectional view of the same cut vertically show- 

 |ing the embryo and the seed-leaf enclosed. 

 If continued long however, by means of bulbs 

 or grafting, the plants degenerate, as by old 

 age. Such being the case with the potato, 

 new roots are produced from the seed. 



The names of plants are often derived from the form of the root. 

 These forms are various, but they are precisely such as are required 

 for the growth and situation of the plant. Some are suited for growth 

 in water, and others are adapted to bark, stone, etc., as with parasites 

 growing upon other trees, as is common in the tropical climates. 

 Those growing without roots are called air plants, the stems of which 

 inhale but do not exhale. These are found on rocks, etc. while some 

 will live suspended from the ceiling of a room. The virtues of plants 

 are most concentrated in winter; hence that is the best season for 

 collecting them for medicinal purposes. The roots grow most rapidly 

 in autumn. As the juices of plants condense in the roots at that 

 time, the sun being less powerful to attract them upward and the air 

 more moist than in summer, they throw out fibres at intervals, as in 

 mint, strawberry, etc. Some are very tenacious of life, and any part 

 having a joint will throw out new roots and form a perfect plant. 

 These roots are often very troublesome to agriculturists. They have 

 a sweetish taste, and are occasionally used as food. They are col- 

 lected and thus used in parts of Europe. By interlacing the soil they 

 give to it great permanency, as on the coast of Holland, they are there- 

 fore well calculated for such as are light and sandy. Thus, too, a 

 small reed, though otherwise unimportant, has saved the most valuable 

 soil of Egypt from being washed away by the Nile 

 This cut represents another form of the creeping root. 



There are some plants which throw down roots from the surface of 

 the water on which the leaves fioat. These constitute 

 the whole of the plant, as the Duck's Meat," repre- 

 sented in the cut. 



There are numerous other kinds of roots which manifest 

 various habits, and which are variously adapted to the peculiarities of 

 their situation. Some plants have no roots, deriving their food from 

 air or water. 



