PARASITIC FUXGl 



corn plant. AAlien a kernel of corn is placed in a 

 warm, moist soiL it germinates by sending out a pointed 

 tube^ called the radicle^ or first root. This pushes into 

 the soil and, after a time^ produces other roots, which 

 branch oif in various directions. Soon after the radicle 

 starts, the little plant also sends upward to the air its 

 minute coiled leaves. While germinating, the young 

 plant is nourished by the food stored up in the starchy 

 portion of the corn kernel, but soon after the leaves 

 expand in the sunlight this source of food is exhausted, 

 and thereafter the j^lant relies upoD its own resources 

 for the materials of growth. By means of the contin- 

 ually developing rootlets, it is able to draw from the 

 soil certain chemical compounds, such as water, potash, 

 phosphoric acid, etc., wliich are taken up through the 

 stem and distributed to the leaves, where, by the action 

 of the sunlight upon the chlorophyll — or the green por- 

 tion of the leaf — they are combined Avith the carbonic 

 acid of the air, and these simple chemical substances are 

 changed from inorganic to organic comj^ounds, forming 

 starch, sugar, and various other products. The plant 

 continues growing, storing up in its leaves and stem 

 more and more of these highly organized materials which 

 it produces as it develops. It finally reaches a point 

 where it begins preparing for reproduction ; on the mid- 

 dle or lower portions of the stem it sends out its pistil- 

 late, or silky blossoms, and on the upper it produces the 

 staminate, or tassel flowers. The pollen from the latter 

 falls, upon the former, and fertilizes the ovaries of the 

 embryo kernels. These then begin to develop,*"' and 

 much of the starchy and other organic matter stored in 

 the stem and leaves is transferred to the cob and kernels. 

 The latter finally mature, and the c^^cle of vegetable life 

 is complete. 



This is a fair illustration of the life-history of the 

 higher plants. Such plants are especially distinguished 



