198 THE STORY OF THE PLANTS. 



various parts of the plant the root, the leaves, 

 the flowers, 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 

 where they are wanted for the growth of fresh 

 organs. It supports and raises the whole plant 

 colony. Finally, it stores up material in 

 drought or winter, which it uses for new 

 branches, leaves, or flowers, when rain or 

 spring or favourable conditions in due time 

 come round again. 



CHAPTEE XIII. 



SOME PLANT BIOGRAPHIES. 



WE have considered so far the various elements 

 which go to make up the life of plants how 

 they eat and drink, how they digest and assimi- 

 late, how they marry and get fertilised, how they 

 produce their fruit and set their seeds, finally 

 how they are linked together in all their parts 

 by stem and vessels into a single community. 

 But up to the present moment we have con- 

 sidered these elements in isolation only, as so 

 many processes the union of which makes up 

 what we call the life of an oak, or a lily, or 

 a strawberry plant. In order really to under- 

 stand how all these principles work together in 

 practical action, we ought to take a few specimen 

 lives of real concrete plants, and trace them 

 through direct, from the cradle to the grave, 



