2O2 FLOWER-LAND. 



and gases ; but the solids are dissolved, as plants can 

 only take up their food in a liquid or a gaseous form 

 absorption (p 192). Then, whilst superfluous fluid is got 

 rid of by transpiration (p. 192), carbon is obtained by 

 assimilation (p, 197), oxygen is taken in by respiration 

 (p. 198), new tissues and other substances are formed 

 by metastasis, and so the plant lives and grows.* 



I want you to like this part of botany, and so I will 

 try to show you further how many interesting things 

 there are connected with it and how very useful this 

 kind of knowledge is. 



Suppose, for instance, that we consider some of those 

 things without which plants cannot live; and if I 

 repeat anything that I have already told you it will 

 help you to remember it. We will take light, heat, 

 air, earthy food and water. 



Would it not be terrible if our herbs and leaves 

 were all white instead of green. But that is just what 

 happens when plants grow without any light. I dare- 

 say you have noticed this in sprouts of potatoes which 

 have been kept in darkness, or in the white stems of 

 sea-kale, or the celery stem so beautifully white 

 where it was covered by the earth, whilst its top 

 which was exposed to the light is of the familiar 

 green. Without light no green chlorophyll is formed 

 and we should lose the beautiful green colouring so 

 restful to our eyes. Without light no carbon would be 



* cf. parasite in the Appendix. 



