ROOT. 7 



5. Their botanical name, S2oongioles, comes from their 

 resemblance to a sponge, and their office of sucking up or 

 imbibing moisture. Under the microscope, they do not 

 exliibit a different organization from the minute radicles, 

 but appear only as expansions of them. 



6. Badicle is the name given to little roots or rootlets, 

 and comes from the Latin radix, which signifies root. 



7. Roots, when found penetrating the soil, and perform- 

 ing the offices of support and sustentation to the plants, 

 are denominated ground-roots. 



8. There are several varieties of air-voot^ : First, those 

 which strike from the sides of the stem, but grow down- 

 ward, ultimately entering the soil. A fiimiliar example 

 of these is seen in the Indian corn. Here you will perceive 

 roots springing from the second and third joints of the 

 stalk, and proceeding downward until they penetrate the 

 soil to a depth equal to the ground-roots. These are 

 found generally on the plants whose stems are tall and 

 slender, where they perform the twofold work of fixing 

 the plant more securely to the soil, and of drawing up nour- 

 ishment for its growth. This additional support is very 

 necessary to the Indian corn, whose slender stalk, laden 

 with such a weight of leaves and ears, is unusually liable 

 to be prostrated by both wind and rain ; and even with all 

 the precaution of this double stay and prop, it is not un- 

 common to see whole fields of it leveled to the ground 

 after a heavy rain-storm. 



9. Secondly, plants throw out aerial roots, which do not 



5. What is the botanical name of these mouths? From what derived? Do 

 they, nnder a microscope, exhibit a different organization from the fibrons root ? 



6. What is a radicle ? From whence is the word derived ? Its signification ? 



7. Roots that penetrate the soil, and support and nourish the plant, are called 

 what ? 



8. Are there several varieties of air-roots? What is the first? What purpose 

 do the air-roots.of Indian corn serve? 



9. What is the second kind of air-root? What is their use? The work they 

 perform is similar to what ? What plant has the second kind of air-iX)Ot ? What 

 proof that these roots arc not feeders ? 



