PREFACE 



The present volume, an outgrowth of experience in presenting 

 to college freshmen a course in elementary botany, endeavors 

 to set forth somewhat briefly and concisely the more important 

 facts concerning the morphology, physiology and classification 

 of plants, and to provide a body of problem material which may 

 be of assistance in stimulating thought and in promoting class 

 discussion. 



The consideration of structure and function in the earlier 

 portions of the book is confined mainly to the seed plants, and 

 the distinctive characteristics of the other members of the plant 

 kingdom are discussed in the last five chapters. Should the 

 course be too brief to take up these groups in detail, Chapter XTII, 

 which deals with the main events in the history of the plant 

 kingdom and the important features of its various divisions, 

 may perhaps be used to give the student an idea of the kingdom 

 as a whole. In view of the importance of the soil in the life of 

 plants, and in order to emphasize the fact that living things 

 cannot be understood without a knowledge of their environment, 

 an early chapter is devoted entirely to the soil itself. The 

 increased interest in matters pertaining to inheritance has war- 

 ranted a special chapter on heredity and variation; and a chapter 

 is also devoted to organic evolution, emphasizing its botanical 

 aspects. The chapters have been so written as to be separately 

 understandable and may readily be taken up in some other order 

 than that in which they are here presented. The text is not 

 primarily designed for agricultural students but many of the 

 questions naturally involve a practical apphcation of botanical 

 principles and will perhaps commend themselves especially to 

 those whose interest in botany is chiefly agricultural. 



The rather extensive lists of "Questions for Thought and 

 Discussion", which are perhaps the most novel feature of the 

 present volume, have resulted from an attempt to stimulate 

 within the student an attitude of interest, of curiosity and of 

 critical thought toward the multitude of problems which plants 

 present, and thus to provide him with a clearer insight into the 

 way in which plants are constructed and function, and a firmer 



