HOW PLANTS MARliY. 85 



dilference between the leaves and the bees is 

 not so great as at first sight appears ; for though 

 each leaf does not as a rule live separately, it is 

 often capable of doing so if occasion arises. A 

 single leaf of stonecrop, separated from the 

 parent plant, v^ill root itself and grow into a 

 fresh colony ; and in some plants, like begonias, 

 a single fragment of a leaf, if placed on v^et soil, 

 is capable of growing out into a new individual. 

 In other cases small leaves drop off from a plant 

 as bulbils, and root and grow ; while in others, 

 again, young plants sprout out from the edges 

 of old leaves to form new colonies. In short, 

 though the leaf is not usually a distinct plant, 

 it sometimes is, and it can often become one ; it 

 frequently gives rise in a sexless way to fresh 

 plant colonies. A graver difficulty is this : the 

 plant differs from the hive in being more closely 

 connected and subordinated in its parts — the 

 stem and root (which bind and unite it), bringing 

 water and nitrogenous matter, while the leaves 

 elaborate the starch and protoplasm and other 

 chief food-stuffs. Even this difference, however, 

 is less grave than it seems, if we remember that 

 the queen bee and the larvae are similarly 

 dependent upon the workers for food and 

 protection. A plant, in short, is a colony of 

 various forms of leaves, very closely united 

 together for mutual service, and very much 

 specialised in various ways among themselves 

 for particular functions. 



And now we are in a position to know what 

 work the flower has to do in the community. 



