Botany and Pharmacognosy. 



PART I.— BOTANY. 



CHAPTER I. 

 PRINCIPAL GROUPS OF PLANTS. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



There are four main lines of botanical work recognized at 

 present, — ^namely, Morphology, Histology, Physiology, and Ecol- 

 ogy. Morphology, which is sometimes referred to as Outer 

 Morphology, is the study of the external forms of organs and 

 the relation of these to their functions. Histology, which is 

 sometimes defined as Inner Morphology, has to do with the 

 minute inner structure of organs. Physiology may be defined 

 as the study which considers the life processes and the condi- 

 tions which influence these. Ecology is the study of the adapta- 

 tion of plants and their parts to external conditions. It is impor- 

 tant to bear in mind, however, that these several departments 

 are more or less interdependent, and that one of them cannot be 

 intelligently considered without encroaching on the territory of 

 the others. For instance, as Goebel states, we cannot under- 

 stand the relation of the external forms of organs without refer- 

 ence to their functions. In other words, form and function have 

 a direct relation; one influences the other. So, too, in the study 

 of ecology we study the influence of external conditions on 

 plants and these, as indicated above, have a direct influence on 

 physiological processes, and thus the study of ecology merges 

 into the study of physiology on the one hand and into morphology 

 on the other. 



While this book will deal chiefly with the structure of plants 

 and their parts, still it will be necessary occasionally to refer to 

 some of the characters of plants which properly belong to other 

 departments of botanical study. , , , 1 



