.VEGETABLE KINGDOM DIAGRAM 8 167 



VEGETABLE KINGDOM 



THE vegetable kingdom includes all* plants. These are as 

 different among tliemselves as animals ; to see this, we have only 

 to compare a patch of mould on a pot of preserves, with an oak or 

 a fir-tree ; and it is therefore necessary to divide vegetables like 

 animals into large divisions and classes. But before speaking of 

 these, we ought to consider the various parts of which a plant is 

 composed, by taking examples from among the commonest plants. 



In order to study what a plant is, we may set some beans in a 

 flower-pot to see them grow. While waiting for them to appear 

 above ground, let us examine how a bean is formed, and for this 

 purpose we may put one to swell and soften in water for a day or 

 two. If we then open one, we first find a skin or envelope 

 entirely separate from its contents. The interior itself is formed 

 of two halves which are very easily separated, and which are only 

 united by a point. These two halves are called cotyledons. If 

 the bean is sufficiently softened, we shall see, when these are 

 carefully opened, a very small plant to which they adhere, pressed 

 between them ; a kind of bud is already visible at one extremity, 

 and a root at the other. Between the bud and root, the little 

 plant is united to the cotyledons in such a manner as to form 

 part of them. If we now follow day by day the growth of our 

 beans in the flower-pots, this is what we shall observe ; the 



