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PREFACE 
TuIs little book is an attempt to interest students of Botany 
in the habitat of plants, a branch of Nature Study which has 
been almost neglected in the more definite teaching of Botan 
in schools, | 
Part I. deals with the problems that belong to Ecology, the 
science that investigates everything relating to the habitat of 
plants or animals. And here it must be stated that only the 
most general conclusions have been given—exception to the 
statements made will occur to every botanist—for it must be 
remembered that the presence of a plant in a particular 
locality depends on so many circumstances, many of which 
have not been as yet fully investigated, that it is often only 
possible to make very general statements. Another difficulty 
of the subject is that a given structure in plants does not 
necessarily denote similarity of environment. This is well 
seen in the case of hairiness, which is usually an adaptation 
of structure on the part of the plant to dryness of surround- 
ings ; but there are many very hairy plants, such as Comfrey, 
growing in anything but dry situations. 
Part II. treats of the minute structure of the plant and its 
adaptations to its habitat. It is the root, stem, and, above 
all, the leaf, that are capable of adapting themselves to environ- 
ment; the structure of these vegetative organs is therefore 
given in detail ; that of the flower is less fully treated. 
Part III. gives certain Natural Orders, special attention 
being paid to their ecological characteristics. 
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