12 GENERAL BOTANY 



of the shoot, on the other hand, where a branch and 

 leaf are attached to the axis, the surface is unbroken 

 .and they appear to spring from its surface and not 

 from inside. 



The tip of the root is 

 covered by a sort of cap, the 

 root-cap, which we can see 

 very easily on the root of 

 PANDANUS, or the hanging 

 roots of the Banyan, and 

 on plants that float on the 

 water, e.g. TRAPA and 

 FIG. 2 PISTIA. The root-cap is not 



STILT-ROOT OF PANDANUS formed of leaves like the 

 covering of the bud, for the root has no leaves, but 

 is a specially developed part of the extreme tip, and 

 spreads backwards from it. On the shoot, generally 

 towards the ends of the branches, the flowers are 

 borne ; and after a flower has faded, there is deve- 

 loped in its place a fruit or pod containing one or 

 more seeds. 



Flowers and seeds are never produced on the roots. 

 The Ground-nut has pods and seeds under-ground, but 

 the branches on which they are borne spring from 

 and belong to the shoot and are not roots, though 

 they bend down into the soil, and, losing their green 

 colour, seem at first sight to be roots. 



We see then that the root and shoot parts of a 

 plant are really quite distinct, differing not only in 

 their colour, but in the nature of their ends and 

 of their branching, and likewise in the absence or 

 presence of leaves and flowers. 



