374 



LJlSSOIfS WITS PLANTS 



giving rise to the stories of the early explorers 

 that oysters grow on trees. 



470. All this will recall the accounts of the 

 banyan tree, and there are wild fig trees (the ban- 

 yan is a fig) in Florida and southwards which 

 behave in a similar way. It seems strange that 

 roots should strike out into the air, but the pupil 

 may have observed the " brace roots " 

 near the ground on Indian corn; and 

 many plants, as the ivy and trumpet- 

 creeper, climb by means of roots. 



LXXIII. CUTTINGS AND GRAFTS 



471. A plant multiplies itself by 

 means of various sexual and asexual 

 parts which normally detach from it. 

 But it may also spread by means of 

 parts which are torn off by winds ' 

 and animals, and thus make use of 

 accidents. The branches of willows 

 are broken off by ice and storm, 

 and take root and grow. They are 

 often carried down the streams and drifted upon 

 the shores of lakes, and the branches often take 

 root as readily from the top end as from the 

 bottom end. 



Pig. 395. 



Multiple tips of a 



mangrove root- 



brancli. 



