68 



ACADEMIC BOTANY. 



a) ; rarely three, or some multiple of three (May-apple, 

 Magnolia, Fig. 133). 



IV. Leaves net-veiued (Fig. >y^ <> _x v / r ■^ %^ 

 74); rarely parallel- veined or /f ^.^^ J \ / // '(em>.o 

 ribbed (Gentian, Fig. 116; 

 Plantain, Fig. 136). 



V. Growth exogenous. 



CI, 1 , /TT,. p-ox FiQ. 82. — a, diagram of fl. of Heath 



Otem solvent (-Clg. VO). rEnm, UlraUx); b, ditto of Stonecrop 



(Bedum pulchellum). 



121. Specialization. — Looking from the Lotus Lily and the Butter- 

 cup as types of highest floral development in Exogeus, it is both in- 

 teresting and instructive to see here, as in Endogens, how the various 

 types have developed on the one hand and specialized their parts on 

 the other ; until from the great Creamnut-tree of South America, in 

 which a single flower develops 4800 stamens, we see the Sunflowers 

 (Fig. 142) so specialized that their little flowers (called florets) are in 

 close heads, with each fruit (Eig. 142, b) an akaine; the Oaks (Fig. 66) 

 with apetalous flowers ; the Mistletoe (Pig. 65) with its seed reduced to 

 the nucleus. 



122. Motherhood. The master-builder. — The process of life, through 

 all its gradations, from the simplest to the most complex forms, whether 

 of plant or animal, is the same as in the Ked Snow, — hirth and devel- 

 opment from a mother-cell. And just as in the animal activities, so it 

 is with the plant ; every part — root, stem, leaf, and flower — is concerned 

 in the growth of this expectant mother and subservient to her. The 

 protoplasm creates cell after cell, which it sends out to gather materials 

 for the bridal-chamber of the pistil. These skilful artisans frame the 

 torus like a royal couch ; they deck it with petals and sepals which no 

 Eastern loom can imitate. They attend in state on the embryo- 

 daughter ; they bring the food she needs, they take away the refuse 

 that might harm her. Day by day they shape the cotyledons into a 

 cradle, and canopy it with the curtains of the seed-coats ; they make 

 wood-flbre for the pericarp, and build its strong walls to shield her 

 from danger. When the seed is planted and the warm earth quickens 

 the embryo into active life, the protoplasm stirs again in all the cells ; 

 the radicle with its delicate point pierces the seed-coats, and by an un- 

 erring instinct descends into the ground ; the plumule ascends and un- 

 furls its leafy banner in the air. The Dragon-tree, which sprouted 

 before Babylon was built ; the Californian Pine, contemporary with the 

 Psalmist David ; the Baobab, which swung thfe censers of its great 

 white flowers in the days of the Caesars, — all" these are the work of this 

 busy little atom. Unresting, unerring, it builds cell after cell, chamber 

 after chamber, adorned with sculpture and garniture ; it poises them 

 so delicately that the lightest breeze can stir them, yet fixes them so 

 firmly that man is made ashamed even of his Pyramids. 



