THE LIFE -HISTORY OF FLANTS. 



tMs mode of propagation one or more buds are sepa- 

 rated from the parent stock and form new plants. 

 "Farting the root," then, is only another way of 

 taking- cuttings. 



Another form of root-stock is exemplified by what 

 gardeners call " creeping roots," as in the common 

 Bindweed {Convolvulus) or the Couch-grass {Triti- 

 ctmrepens). Why these are not strictly roots will 

 be understood from what has already been said. 

 Stich forms of rhizome are an unmitigated nuisance 

 to the gardener and farmer. There are, however, in- 

 stances where this mode 

 of growth is very ad\'an- 

 tageous, as on sandy sea- 

 shores or dunes, where 

 these so-called creeping 

 roots render inestimable 

 service in partially fixing 

 the sand and preventing 

 its dispersal over the 

 neighbouring country. 

 By their means, plai 

 with Broom, 

 Furze, and 

 other plants, 

 to act as 

 nurses for 

 valuable 

 Fines, be- - 

 comes possi- — 

 ble, and thus 

 what were r. " 



once barren 

 wastes may = 

 be converted 

 into most pro- 

 fitable land. Fig. o7. 

 This affords 

 an excellent 



illustration of the value that accrues from the study 

 of the mode of growth of the commonest weeds. We 

 are all to apt to despise these weeds rather than to 

 utilise them and turn them to advantage, as we 

 might readily do. 



Root-stocks, like bulbs, afford characteristic ex- 

 amples of the " indefinite " and " definite " modes 

 of growth (see Vol. L, page 298). In the common 

 Solomon's Seal [Polygonatum muUiflorwn) we have 

 a long, thick, horizontal root-stock, terminated by 

 a stalk, which ascends to bear leaves and flowers, 

 and which is the real termination of the stem. 

 The horizontal growth is carried on by a bud 

 formed at the side near the tip of the root-stock, and 

 which bud itself ends in an inflorescence the follow- 

 ing season. In other cases the growth is indefi- 

 nite" because the root-stock ends in a leaf -bud, 



which continues the horizontal growth below 

 ground, the leaves and flowers being borne on 

 axillary buds produced from the side of the root- 

 stock, and thrust up into the light and air — e.g., 

 Frimrose, Couch-grass. It must be remembered 

 that the terms definite and indefinite in these cases 

 refer to the order and direction of growth, and not to 

 time, and this is the more important to be boi'ne in 

 mind in that most of these plants with root-stocks are 

 what are called " herbaceous perennials." Their 

 growth in a particular direction may be checked, or 

 it may not be, but in 

 either case the duration 

 is limited. The young 

 shoots die down in 

 winter, not, however, 

 before provision has 

 been made for the future 

 by the development of 

 new buds from the flanks 

 or end of the stock,, 

 which new buds will re- 

 main dor- 

 mant through 

 the winter^ 

 to start in- 

 to renewed 

 growth the 

 f o llo wing 

 season, as 

 we have seen 

 to be the 

 case with 

 bulbs. While 

 growth is 

 thus provided 

 for at or near 

 one end of 

 the stock, it 



generally happens that decay and death of the older 

 portions at the opposite end occur, and thus it hap- 

 pens that by the onward march of the new and the 

 decay of the old parts, the plant actually changes its- 

 position in course of time. 



The conditions of growth above alluded to furnish 

 the explanation of the directions so generally given 

 to " part or divide the roots," or to transplant every 

 two or three years certain kinds of herbaceous per- 

 ennials. 



The Hoot. — Coming now to the consideration of 

 the root proper as an organ of absorption — " feeding- 

 roots "as the gardener apj)ropriately terms them — 

 w^e may pass over as unimportant in the present 

 connection all the varied forms of roots described in 

 books. We may ignore in practice the distinction 



Eoot-' tock of Si lomon's Seal {Fohjgmwtimi wuUiflorum', giving off roots 

 from the under surface and shoots from the iipper side. 



