THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



PLANT LIFE 



BY Miss CHARLOTTE L. LAURIE, 

 Assistant Mistress, Cheltenham Ladies' College. 



CHAPTER I 



THE LIFE AND GROWTH OF SEEDLINGS 



IT is strange how little the majority of people realise that plants 

 are living organisms. They are inclined to think of them as 

 inanimate, and to wonder what Wordsworth meant by speaking 

 of every flower enjoying the air it breathes, or the budding twigs 

 feeling pleasure in spreading out their leaves. Now, although 

 many scientists would hesitate to personify Nature as Wordsworth 

 does, the fact of life which the poet is here emphasizing is in- 

 disputable. 



Plants are capable of the same vital functions as animals. 

 They breathe, they take in food, they respond to their surroundings 

 in the most marvellous way, they grow, they produce other plants 

 like themselves ; in fact, they are capable of all the functions 

 which are characteristic of life. Nothing is more interesting than 

 to trace the adaptation of structure to environment, of which 

 plants are capable. This is best studied in the various forms of 

 leaves, in their arrangement on the stem, their hairiness, texture, 

 etc. Some of the characteristic plants of the dry and sunny 

 Australian climate have their leaves attached to the stem in such 

 a way that they present the margin, not the blade of the leaf, 



VOL. III. I 



