ROOT. 11 



year. It means iinytliing that returns every year. Bal- 

 sams, China aster, Indian corn, Avheat, etc., are annuals. 

 If you wish to have these things in your gardens and fields, 

 you must sow them every year. 



17. Biennial roots (Latin, his, twice, and annus, year) 

 are those plants which live two years, as the name suggests. 

 The seed is sown in spring, but the plant does not bloom 

 until the next year. That is, it comes up in the spring, 

 lives through the summer, fall, and winter, blooms the 

 next spring, bears seed in summer, and dies in autumn. 

 It will perhaps not be out of place to mention here a pecu- 

 liarity of many of the biennial family ; that is, tlieir care 

 for the future, storing up food in root, stem, and leaf, the 

 first summer,, for the development of flower and seed the 

 next. The turnip, beet, and potato are familiar examples 

 of the food stored in roots. The cabbage and spinach in 

 leaves, and the banana and potato-cabbage in the stem. 

 During the first summer these organs are juicy and succu- 

 lent, cellular tissue predominating, and forming a very 

 important part of the food for man and beast. The second 

 summer, when the flower-bud springs, this food is drawn 

 up to support the growing shoot and perfecting seed. 

 When the latter are fully matured, the root, stem, or leaf, 

 as the case may be, is found to consist entirely of woody 

 tissue, the cellular all having been exhausted for the 

 growth and development of bud, flower, and seed. The 

 GiLiA coronopifolia, known to the children of the South- 

 west as the Texas plume, the Euchroma coccinea called 

 the Mexican blanket, mustard, and cabbage are bien- 

 nials. Perennial roots (pereimis, through the year) are 

 plants whose term of life is indefinite. We therefore find 



17. From what is biennial derived ? What remarkable provision for the future 

 do many of this family exhibit ? When do they store their food ? For what pur- 

 pose? Examples of food-storing plants ? What kind of tissue predominates the 

 first summer ? What the second ? What has become of the cellular ? Do bien- 

 nials constitute an important article of food? Mention some. Some noted for 

 their flowers. 



