BRANCHING 



11 



to distinguish between leaves and other organs which 

 may look like leaves. 



The root, on the other hand, 

 bears no leaves, and its 

 branches are not arranged 

 like those of the shoot, but in 

 lines. This is very well seen 

 in the common country Radish, 

 which has a thick main root, 

 upon which the rootlets are 

 arranged in two rows, one on 

 each side. 



Sow a few Broad-beans in 

 moist earth and keep the soil 

 damp till one or two leaves 

 have appeared. Now pull up 

 the plant and you will see that 

 the rootlets are in four vertical 

 rows, and come out from the 

 inside through slits in the 

 outer surface of the main root. 

 Examine a root of PAN DAN US, 

 the Screwpine ; there are a 

 very large number of little 

 knobs really young rootlets 

 and it is easy to see that they are in rows, 

 running down the root. Here too one can see that 

 the rootlets come out from inside, breaking through 

 the outer surface of the root. This same growing of 

 young roots from inside the parent root can be well 

 seen too in the hanging roots of the Banyan. It is 

 in fact a characteristic of root-branching ; in the case 



FIG. 1. RADISH 



