18 



COMPOUND ORGANS OF PLANTS. 



axis, with its assemblage of nutritive and reproductive organs 

 at its two extremities, has been very properly termed the 

 axophyte. 



Before commencing our exposition of the anatomy and func- 

 tions of the fundamental organs of flowering plants, it is proper 

 to examine that peculiar investment which covers them, termed 

 the epidermis. 



CHAPTER I. 



ON THE EPIDERMIS AND ITS APPENDAGES. 



EVERY part of a plant, as well as of an animal, with the 

 exception of the stigma or summit of the pistil and the 

 extremities of the roots, is covered by a thin membranaceous 

 investment, termed the epidermis. 



Fig. 1. 



Pellicle of cabbage, detached by maceration, covering the hairs, h, and having open- 

 ings, s, corresponding to the stomata. 



The epidermis consists of two parts : 1st, an outward pel- 

 licle, (Fig. 1,) without appreciable organization called the 

 cuticle ; 2d, one or more strata of flattened tabular cells, which 

 are much larger than the cells of the subjacent tissue, consti- 



