THE STEM AND BRANCHES. l8l 



respect much more like animals : instead of 

 manufacturing fresh starches and protoplasms 

 for themselves from carbonic acid, under the in- 

 fluence of sunlight, they eat up what has already 

 been made by other and more industrious species. 

 Such plants are retrograde. They are products 

 of degeneracy. Among them I may specially 

 mention all the fungi, like mushrooms, toadstools, 

 mould, and mildew, as well as the bacilli and bac- 

 teria, microscopic and degenerate plants which 

 cause decomposition. Their life is more like that 

 of animals than of true vegetables. 



In tropical forests, where the soil is almost 

 monopolised by huge spreading trees, the smaller 

 plants have been forced to secure their fair share 

 of light and air by somewhat different means 

 from those which are common in cooler climates. 

 Many of them, without being parasitic, have 

 learnt to attach themselves by their roots to the 

 outer bark of the trees, and so to get at the 

 light, no ray of which ever struggles through 

 the living canopy of green in the dense jungle. 

 These plants have green leaves, and eat for 

 themselves; but they use the boughs of their 

 host instead of soil to root themselves in. Such 

 plants are technically known as epiphytes. This 

 is the mode of life of most of the handsome 

 orchids cultivated in our conservatories. 



Now let us recapitulate. The stem unites the 

 various parts of the plant — the root, the leaves, 

 the flowxrs, the fruit. It conducts water and 

 nitrogenous matter from the soil to the foliage. 

 It also carries the manufactured materials from 

 the points where they are made to the points 



