HOW PLANTS MAEEY. 85 



difference between the leaves and the bees is\ 

 not so great as at first sight appears ; for though) 

 each leaf does not as a rule live separately, it is'; 

 often capable of doing so if occasion arises. A 

 single leaf of stonecrop, separated from the' 

 parent plant, will root itself and grow into a 

 fresh colony ; and in some plants, like begonias, 

 a single fragment of a leaf, if placed on wet soil, 

 is capable of growing out into a new individual. 

 In other cases small leaves drop off from a plant 

 as bulbils, and root and grow ; while in others, 

 again, young plants sprout out from the edges 

 of old leaves to form new colonies. In short, 

 though the leaf is not usually a distinct plant,-* 

 it sometimes is, and it can often become one ; itfc 

 frequently gives rise in a sexless way to fresh v 

 plant colonies. A graver difficulty is this : the 

 plant differs from the hive in being more closely 

 connected and subordinated in its parts the 

 stem and root (which bind and unite it), bringing 

 water and nitrogenous matter, while the leaves 

 elaborate the starch and protoplasm and other 

 chief food-stuffs. Even this difference, however, 

 is less grave than it seems, if we remember that 

 the queen bee and the larvae are similarly 

 dependent upon the workers for food and 

 protection. A plant, in short, is a colony of 

 various forms of leaves, very closely united 

 together for mutual service, and very much 

 specialised in various way's among themselves 

 for particular functions. 



And now we are in a position to know what 

 work the flower has to do in the community. 



