THE RADISH 49 
18. Cut a very thin slice of the radish and lay it on a 
piece of black paper. In most radishes you can 
see a pink or a pinkish ring on the outside, and 
from this start all the clear lines that run to the 
center. The outside pink line makes a perfect 
circle around the radish. 
Now examine this slice by holding up to the 
light. 
19. Cut a slice of radish and eat it. How does 
it taste? To what would you compare this 
taste ? 
Information 
The pink portion of the radish is really a root. Because of 
its bright color we might take it for a fruit, but for all that it 
grows in the ground and produces a stem with leaves. 
Below the round part the root tapers out. This long, tapering 
end goes down straight into the ground and sucks up water and 
food for the leaves which grow above ground. 
The interesting thing about the radish is this: the plant stores 
up food in the root for its own use. It spends the first part 
of its life in making as large a root as it possibly can. When 
the root is full grown the outer leaves die and then there comes 
a long, slender shoot, on the top of which are the flowers of 
the radish. After the flowers have made their seed, the whole 
plant dies. 
If we dig up the root, after the plant has flowered, we shall 
NATURE STUDY —4 
