78 THE STORY OF THE PLANTS. 



males nor true females. They feed and lay by, 

 and from them new leaves are continually pro- 

 duced in the buds and at the ends of branches. 

 This is called the sexless method of reproduction, 

 and it is essentially similar to the way in which 

 the single-celled plant or the simple animal di- 

 vides itself sexlessly into two or more little plant- 

 lets or animals. But, in addition to this sexless 

 way, the plant also at certain times produces 

 other sorts of leaves which are sexual individuals; 

 and these we call, in the lump, flowers. But 

 flowers are not all alike throughout. They con- 

 sist of certain male individuals, the stamens, which 

 answer to the drones, and of certain female indi- 

 viduals, the pistils or carpels, which answer to the 

 queen or mother bee, and produce the ovules or 

 little eggs of the family. A cherry-tree is thus a 

 plant-hive or colony, consisting for the most part 

 of workers or leaves, but also at certain times of 

 year producing male and female members, whose 

 business it is to found fresh swarms, as it w^ere — 

 to produce the seeds which are the basis and 

 foundation of new colonies. 



There is of course one great difference be- 

 tw^een a hive and a plant, and that is that in the 

 hive the individuals are separate and distinct, 

 while in the plant they are combined on a single 

 stem, which serves to join them. In this respect 

 plants are more like a branch of coral, which con- 

 sists of a number of distinct animals or polypes, 

 united by a core of stony material, and a living 

 mass of connecting matter. Yet the 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 



