70 



DEVELOPMENT OP FLOWERING OR PII^NOGAMOUS 



be destitute of organs ; and it is only in tlie higher Cryptogamous 

 plants, such as Mosses and Ferns, that the familiar organs of ordi- 

 nary vegetation appear as separate parts of the plant, viz. the root, 

 stem, and leaves. In the higher grade (i. e. in Phaenogamous 

 Plants) these three parts are well defined, and always present, in 

 some form or other ; — a few anomalous instances excepted, such 

 as the common Duck-weed, for example (Fig. 102). 

 Here stem and leaf are as it were blended, in the 

 manner of a Liverwort, to form a flat green body, 

 which floats on the water, exposing the upper sur- 

 face like a leaf to the light, while one or more roots 

 proceed from the lower, and a small and simple 

 flower at length makes its appearance on some part 

 of the margin. This is an extremely simplified 

 state of a Phsmogamous plant. 



115. Ordinarily, not only are the root, stem, and 

 foliage distinct and separate from each other, but 

 also distinct from the apparatus for reproduction. 

 So that the plant is composed of two kinds of or- 

 gans, viz. Organs of Vegetation and Organs 

 or Reproduction. 



116. The Organs of Vegetation are the Root, Stem, and Leaves (110). 

 These are so called because they are jointly concerned in the nutri- 

 tion and growth of the plant, and in the performance of all its char- 

 acteristic functions, and they are all that is so concerned. Making 

 up as they do the entire vegetable, and repeated under varied forms 

 throughout its whole development, they are also termed the Funda- 

 mental Organs of plants. 



117. The Organs of Reproduction in the simplest Cryptogamous 

 plants are not distinct from those of vegetation ; but in most plants, 

 even of the lowest families, the cells for reproduction are different 

 in appearance and in the mode of their formation from those which 

 serve for vegetation. These reproductive cells, or Spores, with the 

 apparatus for their production and protection, whatever it may be, 

 constitute the organs of reproduction in Cryptogamous plants. In 

 Phsenogamous plants the organs of reproduction are the Flower, 

 essentially consisting of Stamens and Pistils, and the result of their 

 co-operation is the production of Seed. 



118. A Seed is a body produced by the agency of a flower, which 

 contains, within one or more coats or coverings, a ready-formed 



