THE ROOT. 3 
tangled, disordered mass! These organs, so little favoured in their 
appearance, have, however, very important functions in the order 
of vegetable action. 
The general form of roots is conical, the thicker part being termed 
the caudex or stock; the tender and delicate point of the cone, from 
its soft yielding substance, the spongiola ; the thread-like filaments 
it throws out in all di- 
rections are the febrilla, 
which is somewhat in- 
flated, and consists of 
a series of small cells, 
the ducts of which con- 
vey the food of the 
plant from the spon- 
giolles to the caudex 
of the root. Besides 
this function, it is now 
pretty well established 
that the spongiolles 
possess the power of 
ejecting effete or dele- 
terious matter, and on 
this property of plants 
cultivators of the soil 
formed the system of 
rotation cropping; that 
which, in course of = 
time, renders the soil 
unfit for one crop until * 
it is renovated, being ~ 
harmless, if not bene- 
ficial, to others. 
But all roots are not “= 
planted in the soil. Fig. 4.—Young Harivot. 
There are some plants 
which take root in water, as the Duck-weed (Lemna), Fig. 5, which 
never touches the earth. Others nourish themselves on the tissues 
of other plants, as the Misletoe, a singular parasitic plant, which — 
B 2 
