CHAPTER II 



THE NORMAL PLANT 



1. Dig up any small plant from the ground and 

 shake it free of most of the soil. It consists, you will 

 see, of two distinct parts : the upper is green or 

 brown and has flat green leaves ; the lower is of a 

 dirty white or brown colour and has no leaves. 



This lower part, which was in the ground, is called 

 the root, and it is divided into thinner and thinner 

 branches as it passes downwards into the soil. The 

 smaller of these branches are often called rootlets, 

 and the soil, you will see, adheres very tightly to the 

 rootlets, especially to their ends, so tightly in fact 

 that, unless the soil is very loose, it is impossible to 

 get it all off except by careful washing in water. 

 And if a plant be forcibly pulled up out of ordinary 

 soil, the roots will always break, the greater part 

 remaining in the ground. 



The upper part is called the shoot and consists 

 of a round or rectangular axis which is also branched, 

 but it differs from the root in having flat green leaves. 

 The main axis is generally called the stem, and both 

 it and the branches may have leaves, and always do 

 have leaves. when the plant is young. 



