208 THE BIOCOSMOS PARTICULARIZED. 



seem to be the primordial source of the other 

 two parts (root and foliage), containing orig- 

 inally within itself their opposite tendencies 

 already mentioned, the upward and the down- 

 ward, or the diacosmical and the cosrnical, 

 which tendencies it keeps active as long as 

 there is life. The stem is also the criterion 

 of the second grand division of Plants, that 

 of the phanerogams into endogens and exo~ 

 gens, though the two kinds of seed-leaf are 

 taken as the basis for the same division (mo- 

 nocotyledonous and dicotyledonous). 



The root with its system may be regarded 

 as the second member of the Plant Organism, 

 from which it at once springs in germination 

 as the primal separation. Significant is the 

 fact that certain lower Plants have forms 

 which indicate that stem and root are not yet 

 differentiated (in the Dioscorea for instance). 

 The root can be seen to have several pur- 

 poses, but the primary one is to fix the Plant 

 to and in the Earth, whereby it is anchored to 

 one spot, and then to start it to sucking the 

 maternal breast for nourishment (imbibi- 

 tion). Still further, .the root can be the store- 

 house of life for the Plant. It is in general 

 cylindrical like the stem and upper branches, 

 but longer and more irregular and sinuous, 

 since it has to crawl and wind about in many 

 directions to find its aliment, which is not 



