BRIEF ACCOUNT 



VARIOUS ORGANS OF PLANTS. 



IN commencing the study of practical Botany, it is necessary 

 in the first place to acquire some knowledge of the various parts 

 or organs of which plants are composed. A Plant or Vegetable 

 may be. defined an organized living body, destitute of sensi- 

 bility and voluntary motion. Being always fixed in a particular 

 spot, and thus incapacitated from searching for food, as animals 

 are wont to do, plants are nourished by the substances which 

 surround them, and imbibe or absorb, by their external surface, 

 the atmospheric air, water, and matters dissolved in them. 

 Having thus little choice, their organs of nutrition present little 

 diversity ; and being exempted from the necessity of observing 

 and distinguishing objects, their faculties are very limited, 

 compared with those of animals. 



The parts of which a plant is composed, are named its Organs. 

 These organs are formed of Elementary Parts, differing from 

 each other, but so minute as to be distinctly visible only with 

 the aid of the microscope. These minute parts are named 

 Elementary Organs, Organic Tissue, or Vegetable Tissue, and 

 consist of cellules and tubes, of various forms, of which the basis 

 is membrane &&& fibre. The parts, such as the Root, the 

 Leaves, and the Flowers, formed of these elementary cellules 

 and tubes, are what we commonly call Organs, or Compound 

 Organs. These may be divided into two kinds : Organs of 

 Nutrition, and Organs of Reproduction. Of the former kind 

 are the Root, Stem, Leaves, and Appendages ; of the latter, 

 the Flowers and Fruit. 



It may be understood that a plant consists essentially of a 

 Root, or descending part, and a Stem, or ascending part. The 

 stem has appendages called Leaves. When not connected with 

 the flower they are simply called Leaves. When there are 

 small leaves connected with the leaves properly so called, or 



