ATTRACTIONS OP PLANT LIFE. 



297 



than two years. This arrangement seems so simple that 

 the question is quite natural, " Then why use Latin terms 

 in any form when common terms are so effective ? Why not 

 call corn, just corn, and be done with it !" And that may 

 answer by-and-bye, when all the world speaks the same 

 language, and all are equally agreed as to the common 

 name, and which plant is described when we say "corn." But 

 the corn of Australia may be so very different from the corn of 

 other lands. And the Australian ash tree is different from 

 the ash of Great Britain ; ours is a gum, and our apple tree is 

 closely allied to the eucalyptus, and wholly distinct in every 

 way from the apple tree that bears apples, the only apple 

 tree known to myriads of people. Numberless other 

 instances tell us that if every country were to name its 

 plants in " plain language " in the way that seemed best to 

 them, hopeless confusion would ensue, and botanical 

 identification would be impossible. 



Classification by Methods of Growth. Another easily 

 understood arrangement is that which separates plants 

 which increase in size from the inside (botanically termed 

 endoyens). This includes the great families of grasses, 

 grain yielders, and others. Then another great family, 

 the exogeiia, grow from the 

 outside, and include shrubs, 

 trees, and plants with bark 

 generally. The third great 

 family are acrogens, which 

 include ferns, the fungus tribe, 

 lichens, and others that do not 

 flower, and many of which live 

 on other plants. 



Life Development of 

 Plants. The illustration explains 

 the process of plant life gene- 

 rally. In the first stage of 

 development from the perfect 

 seed (a), warmth, moisture, and 

 air are all necessary for the 

 changes that follow (b cj. Then 

 the seed leaf (the plumule of Fir.,t stages of PI, i,t i,if. 



