76 FABRIC OP PLANTS. 



notice of the parts in which these tissues and fluids are 

 peculiarly combined, beginning with the bark, and 

 going inwards through the wood to the pith. 



THE SKIN OB BIND OF PLANTS. 



IN animals, the outer skin, which is that raised up 

 by a blister, has no more feeling than the nails or the 

 hair, and is therefore intended to sheath and protect 

 the more sensible parts beneath. 



In plants there is a similar outer skin, commonly 

 termed the rind 1 9 intended, no doubt, for a similar 

 purpose, though this is not so well understood as in 

 animals. 



Excepting the spongelets of the roots, and the sum- 

 mit of the pistil in flowers, the rind covers every part 

 of a plant, from the tips of the roots to the edges of 

 the leaves and flowers, but varies much in thickness 

 both on the same plant and among different species. 

 It is very thin and delicate on flower leaves or petals, 

 as well as on leaves, young shoots, and mosses ; while 

 on old stems and branches, it is either composed of a 

 considerable number of layers, as in the birch ; or very 

 thick, as in the cork-oak the cork being the rind. 



As the scarf skin of the human hand becomes thick 

 and rough by hard labour, so does the rind of trees 

 exposed in a field to all weathers ; while the rind of 

 the same species sheltered by surrounding trees in a 



(l) In Latin, Cuticula, or Integumentum cellular e; in Greek, 



