OF THE ROOT, 
53 
radicles of another radish are immersed in water, the plant 
will live and the leaves look fresh for some time. The 
spindle root is often forked as in the mandrake * the divis- 
ions of which are thought to resemble the lower part of the 
human figure. Sometimes the spindle root instead of ter- 
minating in a point, appears as if the end had been cut 
or bitten off ; this is called an abrupt 
root, or more scientifically, premorse, 
which signifies bitten. The violet and 
cowslip furnish examples of this kind 
of root. A foreign plant called the 
Devil’s bit,t has received the name on 
account of its abrupt root ; it having 
been superstitiously believed in former 
times, that as the plant was useful for 
medicine, the devil had, out of spite to 
mankind, bitten off the root-i 
4 th. Creeping root ( Radix repens.) This root, instead of forc- 
ing its way perpendicularly into the earth, extends horizon- 
tally, and sends out fibres. It is very tenacious of life, as 
any part of it containing a joint will grow. This root is 
sometimes useful, by its fibres spreading and entwining 
themselves, and thus rendering a soil more permanent. — 
Holland would be liable to be washed away by the action 
of water were it not that its coasts are bound together by 
these and other plants. This root will grow in sandy, light 
soils which scarcely produce any other vegetation. 
5 th. Granulated root (Radix granulata.) This consists of little 
bulbs or tubers strung together by a thread-like radicle ; this 
form approaches to that of some varieties of the tuberous. 
6 th. Tuberous root ( Radix tuberosa .) This kind of root is hard, 
solid, and fleshy ; it consists of one knob or tuber ; as in 
the potatoe ; or of many such connected by means of a 
number of strings or filaments, as in the artichoke. These 
tubers are reservoirs of moisture, nourishment and vital en- 
ergy. The potatoe then is in reality, but an excrescence, 
proceeding from the real root ; and it is a singular fact that 
* Atropa Mandragora. The word mandrake is said to be derived from 
the German Mandragen,- resembling man. 
t Scadiosa succisa or a kind of Scabious. 
t Plate IV represents the seven principal forms of roots ; some of the less 
important distinctions are exhibited by the wood cuts. 
Fig. 1. Premorse root. 
Forked spindle root. — Premorse root — Creepingroot — Its importance in 
Holland — Granulated root — Tuberous root — Tubers, as the potatoe, not the 
real root — 
