16 



FIEST STUDIES IN PLANT LIFE 



Leaf of a plant with two 

 seed-leaves. 



find that earth comes up with the roots. Even when 

 you rinse the root, some earth remains. This is 

 because the Httle hairs on the roots 

 are sticky. In this way the roots 

 get a firm hold of the earth. If 

 you live near a river, you may have 

 seen the roots of a tall gum tree 

 laid bare. Where the bank is 

 washed away you can often trace 

 the great roots for an astonishing 

 distance. Besides these great 

 roots you now know that there are 

 thousands of slender rootlets that 

 chng to the soil. You wonder no 

 longer that the tree stands firm in 

 the storm. 



8. The wonderful root-tip. The tip of the root 

 does its work so cleverly that it has been called the 

 brain of the root. It chooses its path as if it had the 

 powers of an insect groping its way with dehcate 

 " feelers." You must remember that this little 

 dehcate thread-like root cannot thrust the earth aside 

 like a mole-cricket, or eat its way through the hard 

 clods like the worm. It must find a way where there 

 seems to be no way. It gets round an obstacle or 

 squeezes through close clods in a most wonderful 

 manner. Again, if there is the slightest moistm-e, it 

 moves towards it as if drawn by some magnet.* The 

 point of the root would soon be worn off by all this 

 wear and tear, but for a little cap that protects the 

 tip. This root-cap is constantly being renewed ; just 



* Of course there is no magic in this. The root cannot move towards the 

 water till some of the moisture has reached the root-hairs. 



