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ORGANS AND FUNCTIONS OF PLANTS. 



THE preceding brief descriptions of the external 

 parts and members of plants, and of their general fabric, 

 external or internal, will prepare the beginner for 

 entering upon the study of the organs destined for 

 the digestion of food, for circulating and aerating the 

 fluids thence introduced, and for reproduction, sub- 

 jects which the botanist usually leaves to the vegetable 

 physiologist, but which ought, as I think, to be always 

 considered as a leading branch of botany. 



ORGANS OF DIGESTION. 



As plants cannot, like animals, move about in quest 

 of food, it is necessary that what they require should 

 be very generally diffused and commonly met with, 

 and that they should have organs adapted to take it up 

 as nourishment, and convert it into pulp, and thence 

 into bark and wood, in some such way as animal food 

 is converted into blood, and thence into bone, muscle, 

 and gland. 



Food of Plants. 



.. The food of animals always consists either of other 

 animals, of vegetables, or a mixture of both, together 

 with water, or some fluid containing a considerable 



