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The vine is a deciduous flowering creeper or shrub with long slender 

 sarmentaceous shoots. The different parts may be described as 

 follows : 



EOOTS. 



The roots of the vine are of two sorts, tap-roots and laterals, which 

 between them make up the complete root system of the plant, each 

 having its special functions to perform. These two sorts of roots are 

 very similar in structure, they are both long, slender, and branching, 

 moderately succulent and similar to those of most fruit trees, and 

 differ principally in their direction. The tap-roots of the vine are 

 ramified, and not so distinct as in most other plants; they are more 

 marked in seedlings than in vines grown from cuttings. 



When a young vine is grown from seed the root grows much faster 

 than the stem it is at first entirely cellular, but it soon becomes 

 covered with a thin epidermis (outer skin), which gets thinner towards 

 the extremities; it is only the parts which are covered with this epi- 

 dermis which are capable of absorbing food from the soil ; on them 

 are found the minute absorbent hairs covered with a very thin mem- 

 brane, through which the nourishing elements of the soil enter the 

 Tine in a state of solution. Later on, this thin skin gives place to a 

 regular bark ; woody fibres appear in the centre, and the root reaches 

 its adult stage in which it can no longer absorb liquids directly, but 

 serves to transmit those absorbed near the extremities to the other 

 parts of the plant. 



The adult root is composed of a pithy centre, surrounded by bundles 

 of fibres (fibro-vascular bundles), separated by medullary rays. Out- 

 side is the bark, formed of vascular bundles, surrounded on the 

 exterior by a layer of cork, which serves to protect the root from 

 injuries. This cork layer varies in thickness, it predominates in the 

 roots of some of the American species, rendering them able to resist 

 the attacks of the phylloxera, to which the European varieties 

 succumb. The roots of the American varieties are also tougher and more 

 woody. Between the bark and the interior of the root is to be found 

 the cambium layer, which generates the different tissues. 



STEM. 



The stem of the vine in its wild state is not divided as it is when 

 cultivated into trunk, crown, and shoots, but is long, slender and 



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