196 The Vegetable Individual in its relation to Species. 
common life the “ heart,” of the plant, or, at the first appearance 
of the lateral shoot, the “eye.” The whole future of the plant 
slumbers unseen within it; leaf after leaf arises out of it, step by 
step, ata measured pace, prescribed by law, until (in case the shoot 
is destined to conduct the development thus far) the series con- 
cludes with the last formation, that of the carpels, which close 
over the dying point of vegetation and form the fruit. In this 
progress the centre, always keeping the lead, is ever advancing, 
rising more and more, and leaving behind it an axis arrayed with 
the organs already formed. Hence we may designate the vegeta- 
ble individual as the sum of the parts belonging to one axis. Just 
as the body of the animal has only one trunk and one head, the 
shoot has but one axis and one apex. As the trunk of the ani- 
mal has a second extremity opposite to the terminating head, and 
gradually dwindling down till it forms the tail, so the perfect 
shoot has a second extremity opposite to that which terminates 
with the most perfect structure (the fruit), and dwindling down 
to an indeterminate end, the root, by means of a punctuim vege 
tationis turned downward.* 
the point of vegetation. Let us examine this case more closely. 
If a shoot is divided transversely, under certain circumstances th 
upper part, on which the punctum vegetationis (‘the heart”) 18 
e imbibing organ, 
was the part of the plant which corresponds to the upper part, to the head and 
* Aristotle, on the contrary, considered that the root, being th 
O r 
mouth of the animal; and he regarded the stem as the inferior part. He found the 
noblest part of the plant is exhibited, Besides, the peculiar and 6 ge 
nimal’s head, its involved structure terminating the organism, is by 2° 
means to be found in the root end of the plant; but it is seen in the opposite ad 
which terminates with flower and fruit. 
