THE LIFE-HISTOKY OF PLA:NTS. 



So 



Alyssums is hard and semi-woody, and takes a long 

 while to root\ Flowering so profusely as A. sax at He 

 and other kindred species, the plants grow slowly. 

 Cuttings should be put in, in May, on a gentle 

 hot-hed, and hardened o:ff and planted out as soon 

 as rooted. Thus treated they will bloom next year. 



The best of the Alyssums do not readily lend them 

 selves to root-division. But when this is possible, 

 it affords a ready means of increase, which should 

 never be over-looked or neglected. Some species 

 seed rather freely, but as a general rule, and in 

 most gardens, the better species of Alyssum seldom 

 seed very fi^eely. When seeds do ripen, save, and 

 sow as soon as ripe, 

 choosing a nice shel- 

 tered place for them, 

 and sowing the seeds 

 thinly to give the 

 plants the full benefit 

 of light and air fi'om 

 the fii^st. It is bad 

 practice to sow Alys- 

 sums under glass or 

 in any confined place, 

 as the plantlets are 

 most impatient of con- 

 finement, especially in 

 their infantile state. 

 To have them in per- 

 fection, they should 

 know no overcrowding 

 from the time they 

 break groxmd as seed- 

 lings until they die 

 of old age. 



What is popularly 

 knovrn as the Sweet 

 Alyssum in gardens 



is a free -blooming, honey-scented white annual, 

 the mo 4 popular of the family, extensively used for 

 small beds and edgings. Its botanical name is 

 Alyssum maritimum. It should be so^tl in the open 

 air, where it is to bloom, at any time from February 

 to May. AA^hen once introduced into a bed or 

 border, it mostly reproduces itself, and holds its 

 own, with little more trouble. There is a variegated 

 variety of this, mostly propagated by cuttings, and 

 kept over the winter under glass, the same as 

 verbenas or other bedding plants, though this is also 

 hardy in mild localities. This is known as the 

 Eoniga maritimum variegaticm, grows to a height of 

 from six to nine inches, has small white not very 

 conspicuous flowers, but its narrow leaves are edged 

 with silver, and it is altogether a very neat yet 

 showy plant, well worthy of cultivation for small 

 beds or edgings. 



Alts:-iim Saxatile. 



THE LIFE-HISTOEY OF PLANTS. 



By Dr. Maxwell T. Masters, F.E.S. 



GE-RMI-NATION. 



HAVING- assisted at the launching of the ne^ 

 growth, whether of seed or of bud, and ha\dng 

 indicated the natm-e of the mechanism, and of the 

 processes concerned in that growth, we are now in a 

 position to trace the subsequent career of the leaf- 

 bearing shoots which originate in the manner already 

 described. 



Taking the seed first, the result of the processes 

 before alluded to is 

 made manifest in the 

 germination, not of 

 the seed, as we fami- 

 liarly but very incor- 

 rectly say, but in that 

 of the embryo plant 

 within the seed. So 

 long as it remains in 

 that position it may 

 be called the embi yo ; 

 when it is set free and 

 begins to take on an 

 independent existence, 

 it may be' called a 

 seedling ; from that 

 stage to that of the 

 young plant, and ulti- 

 mately to that of the 

 adult plant, bearing 

 fruit and seed, it 

 passes in one conti- 

 nuous chain, without 

 definite limits between 

 the several stages. 

 The first step in the germination 



The Radicle.- 



of the embryo jp^ant is invariably the protrusion 

 thi^ough the ruptin-ed seed-coats of the radicle or 

 primary root. While still wrapped up within the 

 seed, the point of the radicle is in most cases 

 directed towards a small opening in the seed-coat, 

 called technically the "micropyle." Thr ough that 

 aperture, which very speedily becomes enlarged 

 and lacerated by the swelling of the tissues of the 

 seed and of the embryo plant, emerges the radicle 

 (Fig. 12). 



It is usually of thread-like form, with a pointed 

 end covered and shielded by a thin extinguisher-like 

 cap, which preserves the young root from injury, as 

 it is thr^ust from above downwards into the soil. Why 

 the root descends more or less vertically into the 

 son — why it should not grow on sideways, or up- 

 wards, according to the position of the seed — is a 



