Botany for young people and common schools. How plants grow, a simple introduction to structural botany

Front matter

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COMPANY

AMERICAN BOO

Section I. Page

“ II.

“ III.

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Different Forms or Kinds of Roots, Stems, and Leaves,

“ IV.

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1 1. How Plants are Propagated or Multiplied in Numbers, Chapter II. Page 56.

How Propagated from Buds,

Section I. Page 56.

How Propagated by Seeds,

Flowers : their Arrangement, their Sorts, &c.,

Fruit and Seed,

III. Why Plants Grow; what they are made for, and what

they do,

IV. How Plants are Classified, Named, and Studied,

Classification, — as to the Plan of it,

Names of Plants,

The Natural System of Classification in Botany,

How to study Plants by the Flora, in Part II.,

Chapter IV. Page 93

Section I. Page 93.

“ II. “ 94

The Second Part of the book consists of a Popular Flora for Beginners, viz. a Classification and Description (according to the Natural System) of the Common Plants of the country, both Wild and Cultivated.

Then follows a Dictionary of the peculiar terms which we have occasion to use in describing plants, or their parts, combined with a full Index to Part I. Every science, and every art or occupation, has terms or technical words of its own, and must have them. Without them, all would be confusion and guess-work. In BoP any the number of technical words which a young student need to know is by no means great, and a little diligent study and practice will make them familiar.

The first and most important thing for the student is, to know well the general plan of a plant and the way it grows ; the parts plants consist of ; the uses of the several parts ; their general forms, and the names which are used to distinguish them. This is all very interesting and very useful in itself ; and it is indispensable for study, ing plants with any satisfaction or advantage to find out their names, their properties, and the family they belong to ; i. e. to ascertain the kinds of plants.

botany for young people.

Let the learners, or the class under their teacher, therefore, in the first place go carefully once through the First Part of the book, or at least through the first two chapters, verifying the examples and illustrations given, as far as possible, with their own eyes, and searching for other examples in the plants and flowers around them. Then they may begin to study plants by the Flora, or Second Part of the book, according to the directions given in the last section of Chapter IV. Whenever they meet with a word which they do not remember or clearly understand, they will look it out in the Index, and refer back to the place in the first part of the book where it is used and fully explained. Remember that every one has to creep before he can walk, and to walk before he can run. Only begin at the beginning ; take pains to understand tilings as you go on, and cultivate the habits of accuracy and nice discrimination which this study is eminently adapted to inspire. Then each step will render the next one easy ; you will soon make more rapid progress ; will be able to ascertain Avith facility the names and the structure of almost all common plants ; and will gradually recognize the various and interesting relationships which bind the members of the vegetable creation together in natural families, — showing them to be parts of one system ; varied expressions, as it were, of the thoughts of their Divine Author ; planned in reference to one another ; and evidently intended to enlarge and enlighten our minds, as well as to gratify our senses, and nourish, clothe, warm, and shelter our bodies. So tn Q study of Botany — the most fascinating branch of Natural History, especially for the young — becomes more and more interesting the more we learn of it, and affords a constant and unalloyed intellectual gratification.

When young students have thoroughly mastered tnis little book, they will be well prepared to continue the study in the Lessons in Botany and Vegetable Physiology , and in the Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States, by the same author.

The illustrations are referred to throughout by numbers, with “ Fig.” prefixed. The numbers occasionally introduced, within parenthesis-marks, and without any prefix, (as on p. 25, line 1, and p. 36, line 9,) are references to former paragraphs, where the subject, or the word used, has already been explained.

The illustrations on the first page represent: — Fig. 1. Our commonest wild species of true Lily viz. the Canada Lily. Fig. 2. The Chalcedonian Lily, a native of Palestine, with scarlet flowers, sup posed to be “ The Lily of the Field ” to which our Saviour referred in the Sermon on the Mount Fig. 3. Lilies of the Valley, not true Lilies, but belonging to the Lily Family.

Chapter I. How Plants Grow, And What Their Parts Or Organs Are

Section I. — The Parts of a Plant.

A

4. Morning-Glory.

1. Plants are chiefly made up of three parts, namely, of Root, Stem, and Leaves. These are called the plant’s Organs, that is, its instruments. And as these parts are all that any plant needs for its growth, or vegetation, they are called the Organs of Vegetation.

2. Plants also produce Flowers, from which comes the Fruit, and from this, the Seed. These take no part in nourishing the plant. Their use is to enable it to give rise to new individuals, which increase the numbers of that kind of plant, to take the place of the parent in due time, and keep up the stock ; that is, to reproduce and perpetuate the species. So the Flower with its parts, the Fruit, and the Seed, are called the plant’s Organs of Reproduction.

3. The different sorts of Lilies represented on the first page, and the common Morning-Glory on this page, show all the parts.

4. The Root (Fig. 4, r) is the part which grows downwards into the ground, and takes in nourishment for the plant from the soil. It commonly branches again and again as it grows : its smaller branches or fibres are named Rootlets. Real roots never bear leaves, nor anything besides root-branches or rootlets.

5. The Stem (Fig. 4, s) is the part which grows upwards, and bears the leaves and blossoms. A< certain fixed places the stem bears a leaf or a pair of leaves.

6. Leaves (Fig. 4, /, l) are generally flat and thin, green bodies, turning one face upwards to the sky, and the other downwards towards the ground. They make the Foliage.

7. The Plant ill Vegetation. We see that a plant has a body or trunk (in scientific language, an axis), consisting of two parts, — an upper and a lower. The lower is the Eoot : this fixes the plant to the soil. The upper is the Stem : this rises out of the ground, and bears leaves, which are hung out on the stem in the light and air. The root takes in a part of the plant’s food from the soil : this the stem carries to the leaves. The leaves take in another part of the plant’s food from the air. And in them what the roots absorb from the ground, and what they themselves absorb from the air, are exposed to the sunshine and digested ; that is, changed into something proper to nourish the plant. For there is no nourishment in earth, air, and water as they are ; but vegetables have the power of making these into nourishment. And out of this nourishment it prepares, the plant makes more growth. That is, it extends the roots farther into the soil, and sends out more branches from them, increasing its foothold and its surface for absorbing; while, above, it lengthens the stem and adds leaf after leaf, or shoots forth branches on which still more leaves are spread out in the light and air.

8. So the whole herb, or shrub, or tree, is built up. A tiny herb just sprouted from the seed and the largest tree of the forest alike consist of root, stem, and leaves, and nothing else. Only the tree has larger and more branching stems and roots, and leaves by thousands.

9. Tile Plant in Beproductioil. After having attended in this way to its nourishment and growth for a certain time, the plant sets about reproducing itself by seed. And for this purpose it blossoms. Many plants begin to blossom within a few weeks after springing from the seed. All our annuals , of which the Garden Morning-Glory (Fig. 4) is one, blossom in the course of the summer. Biennials, such as the Carrot, Parsnip, Mullein, and the common Thistle, do not flower before the second summer ; and shrubs and trees, and some herbs, do not begin until they are several years old.

10. The object of the Flower is to form the Fruit. The essential part of the fruit is the Seed. And the essential part of a seed is the Germ or Embryo it contains. The Germ or Embryo is a little plantlet in the seed, ready to grow into a new plant when the seed is sown. Let us notice these organs one after the other, beginning with

AND WHAT THEIR PARTS ARE.

11. The Flower. Flowers are most interesting to the botanist; who not only admires them for their beauty, the exquisite arrangement and forms of their parts, and the wonderful variety they exhibit, but also sees in the blossoms much of the nature or character of each plant, and finds in them the best marks for distinguishing the soi’ts of plants and the family they belong to. So let the student learn at once

12. What the Parts of a Flower are. A flower, with all the parts present, consists of Calyx, Corolla, Stamens, and Pistils. One from the Morning-Glory (Fig. 4 ,f) will serve for an example. Here is one taken off, and shown of about the natural size, the corolla, Fig. 5, separated from the calyx, Fig. 6.

The calyx and the corolla are the Floral Envelopes, or the leaves of the flower. They cover in the bud, and protect the stamens and pistils, which are the Essential Organs of the flower, because both of these are necessary to forming the seed.

13. The Calyx — a Latin name for “flower-cup” — is the cup or outer covering of the blossom (Fig. 6).

It is apt to be green and leaf-like.

14. The Corolla is the inner cup, or inner set of leaves, of the flowei*. It is very seldom green, as the calyx commonly is, but is “ colored,” i. e. of some other color than green, and of a delicate texture. So it is the most showy part of the blossom.

Fig. 5 shows the corolla of the Morning- Glory whole. Fig. 7 is the same, split down and spread open to show

15. The Stamens. These in this flower grow fast to the bottom of the corolla.

There are five stamens in the Morning- Glory. Each stamen consists of two parts, namely, a Filament and an Anther. The Filament is the stalk ; the Anther is a little case, or hollow body, borne on the top of the filament. It is filled with a powdery matter, called Pollen. Fig. 9 shows a separate stamen on a larger scale : f, the filament ; a, the anther, out of which pollen is falling from a slit or long opening down each side.

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1 6 . The Pistils are the bodies in which the seeds are formed. They belong in the centre of the flower. The Morning-Glory has only one pistil : this is shown, enlarged, in Fig. 8. The Rose and the Buttercup have a great many. A pistil has three parts. At the bottom is the Ovary, which becomes the seed-vessel. This is prolonged upwards into a slender body, called the Style. And this bears a moist, generally somewhat enlarged portion, with a naked roughish surface (not having any skin, like the rest), called the Stigma. Upon this stigma some of the pollen, or powder from the anthers, falls and sticks fast. And this somehow enables the pistils to ripen seeds that will grow.

17. Let us now look at a stamen and a pistil from one of the flowers of a Lily (like those shown on a reduced

8 scale in Figures 1 and 2, on the first page), where all the parts are on a larger scale. Here is a Stamen (Fig. 9), with its stalk or Filament , f and its Anther , a, discharging its yellow dust or Pollen. And by its side is the Pistil (Fig.

10), with its Ovary , ov. ; and this tapering into a Style, st. ; and on the top of this is the Stigma, stig. Now cut the ovary through, and it will be found to contain young seeds. Fig. 11 shows the ovary of Fig. 10 cut through lengthwise and magnified by a common hand magnifying-glass. Fig. 12 is the lower part of another one, cut in two crosswise. The young seeds, or more correctly the bodies which are to become seeds, are named Ovules. In the Lily these are very numerous. In the Morning-Glory they are few, only six.

18. These are all the parts of the flower, — all that any flower has. But many flowers have not all these parts. Some have only one flower-cup or one set of blossom-leaves. Lilies appear to have only one set. Some have neither calyx nor corolla; some stamens have no filament, and some pistils have no style: for the style and the filament are not necessary parts, as the anther and the ovary and stigma are. These cases will all be noticed when we come to study flowers more particularly. Meanwhile, please to commit to memory the names of the parts of the flower, Calyx, Corolla, Stamens, and Pistils, and the parts of these also, and learn to distinguish them in all the common blossoms you meet with, until they are as familiar as root, stem, and leaves are to everybody.

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AND WHAT THEIR PARTS ARE.

19. Notice, also, that the calyx and the corolla, one or both, often consist of separate leaves ; as they do in the true Lilies. Each separate piece or leaf of a corolla is called a Petal: and each leaf or piece of a calyx is called a Sepal.

20. The corolla, the stamens, and generally the calyx, fall off or wither away after blossoming ; while the ovary of the pistil remains, grows larger, and becomes

21. The Fruit. So that the fruit is the ripened ovary. It may be a berry, a stone-fruit, a nut, a grain, or a pod. The fruit of the Lily and also of the Morning- Glory is a pod. Here is the pod or fruit of the Morning-Glory (Fig. 4, fr. and Fig. 13), with the calyx remaining beneath, and the remains of the bottom of the style resting on its summit.

And Fig. 14 shows the same pod, fully ripe and dry, and splitting into three pieces that the seeds may fall out. This pod has three cavities (called Cells) in it ; and in each cell two pretty large seeds. Lily-pods have three cells, as we may see in the ovary in the flower (Fig. 12), and many seeds in each.

22. Seeds. These are the bodies produced by the ripened pistil, from which new plants may spring. Here (Fig. 15) is a seed of Morning-Glory, a little enlarged. Also two seeds cut through lengthwise in two different directions, and viewed with a magnifying-glass, to show what is inside (Fig 16, 17). The part of the seed that grows is

23. The Embryo, or Germ. This is a little plantlet ready formed in the seed. In the Morning-Glory it is pretty large, and may readily be got out whole from a fresh seed, or from a dried one after soaking

it well in hot water. In Fig. 16 it is shown whole

and flatwise in the seed, where it is a good deal crumpled up to save room. In Fig. 17, merely the thickness of the embryo is seen, edgewise, in the seed, surrounded by the pulpy matter, which is intended to nourish it when it begins to grow. In Fig. 18, the embryo is shown taken out whole, and spread out flat. In Fig. 19, its two little leaves are separated, and we plainly see what it consists of. It is a pair of tiny leaves on the summit of a little

stem. The leaves (Fig. 19, c, c) are named Seed-leaves or Cotyledons ; the little

stem or stemlet is named the Radicle , r.

HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED.

Analysis of the Section.

I. * Plants consist of two kinds of Organs : those of Vegetation ; what they arc : 2. those of Repro Auction; what they are, what their use.

4. The Root; what it is; rootlets. 5. The Stem; what it is, what it bears. 6. Leaves. 7. T he P:ant in Vegetation; action of the root, stem, and leaves: they change earth, air, and water into nourishment, and use this nourishment in growing. 8. Shrub or tree like an herb, only more extended.

9. The plant reproduces itself, by seed; blossoming. 10. Object of flowers, fruit, seed: all intended for producing the germ or embryo; what this is.

II. Flowers, why particularly interesting to the botanist. 12. What the parts of a flower are; Floral Envelopes; Essential Organs, why so called.

13. Calyx. 14. Corolla. 15. Stamens; what they consist of; Filament; Anther; Pollen. 16. Pistils; how situated; parts of a pistil; Ovary, Style, Stigma; its use. 17. Stamens and pistil shown in another flower, an l the parts explained: Ovules, what they are. 18. All these parts not always present; what cues often wanting. 19. Leaves of a corolla, called Petals; of a calyx, Sepals. 20. What becomes of the parts of a blossom.

21. Fruit, what it is, what it contains. 22. Seeds, what they are, what the part is that grows. 23. Embryo or Germ; what it consists of: Cotyledons or Seed-leaves; Radicle or Stemlet.

Section IT. — How Plants grow from the Seed.

24. Illustrated by the Morning-Glory. We now know what all the parts of a plant are ; that a plant, after growing or vegetating awhile, blossoms ; that flowers give rise to fruit ; that the fruit contains one or more seeds ; and that the essential part of a seed is the embryo or germ of a new plant. To produce, protect, and nourish this germ, is the object of the flower, the fruit, and the seed. The object of the embryo is to grow and become a new plant. How it grows, is what we have now to learn.

25. Life in a Seed. But first let us notice that it does not generally grow at once. Although alive, a seed may for a long while show no signs of life, and feel neither the summer’s heat nor the winter’s cold. Still it lives on where it falls, in this slumbering way, until the next spring in most plants, or sometimes until the spring after that, before it begins to grow. There is a great difference in this respect in different seeds. Those of Red Maple ripen in the spring, and start about the middle of the summer. Those of Sugar Maple ripen in the fall, and lie quiet until the next spring. When gathered and laid up in a dry place, many seeds will keep alive for two, three, or several years ; and in this state plants may be safely transported

* The numbers are those of the paragraphs

HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED.

all around the world. How long seeds will live is uncertain. The stories of seeds growing which have been preserved for two or more thousand years with Egyptian mummies, are not to be believed. But it is well known that Sensitive Plants have been raised from seeds over sixty years old. Few kinds of seeds will grow after keeping them for five or six years ; many refuse to grow after the second year ; and some will not grow at all unless allowed to fall at once to the ground. There is no way of telling whether the germ of a seed is alive or not, except by trying whether it will grow, that is, will germinate.

26. Germination and Early Growth. Germination is the sprouting of a plant from the seed. Having just illustrated the parts of a plant by the Morning-Glory, from the root up to the seed and the embryo in the seed, we may take this same plant as an example to show how a plant grows from the seed. If we plant some of the seeds in a flower-pot, covering them lightly with soil, water them, and give them warmth, or if in spring we watch those which sowed themselves naturally in the garden the year before, and are now moistened by showers and warmed by sunshine, we shall soon see how they grow. And what we learn from this one kind of plant will be true of all ordinary plants, but with some differences in the circumstances, according to the kind.

27. The seed first imbibes some moisture through its coats, swells a little, and. as it feels the warmth, the embryo gradually wakes from its long and deep sleep, and stretches itself, as it were. That is, the tiny stem of the embryo lengthens, and its end bursts through the coats of the seed ; at the same time, the two leaves it bears grow larger, straighten themselves, and so throw off the seed-coats as a loose husk ; this allows the seed-leaves to spread out, as leaves naturally do, and so the seedling plantlet stands revealed. Observe the whole for yourselves, if possible, and compare with these figures. Fig. 19 is repeated from p. 9, and repx-esents the embryo taken out of the seed, straightened, enlarged, and the two leaves a little opened. Fig. 16 and 17 show how the embryo lies snugly packed away in the seed. Fig. 20 shows it coming up, the seed-leaves above just throwing off the coats or husk of the seed. Fig. 21 is the same, a little later and larger, with the seed-leaves spread out in the air above, and a root well formed beneath. And Fig. 22 is the same a little later still.

28. At the very beginning of its growth, the end of the little stem which first comes out of the seed turns downward and points into the earth. From it the root is formed, which continues downwards, branching as it grows, and burying itself

HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED.

Cotyledons or seed-leaves.

Radicle or stemlet.

Plumule.

more and more in the soil. The other end of the stem always turns upwards, and, as the whole lengthens, the seed-leaves are brought up out of the ground, so that they expand in the light and air, — which is the proper place for leaves, as the dark and damp soil is for the root.

29. What makes the root always grow downwards into the ground, and the stem turn upwards, so as to rise out of it, we no more know, than we know why newly-hatched ducklings take to the water at once, while chickens avoid it, although hatched under the same fowl and treated just alike. But the fact is always so.

And although we know not how, the why is evident enough ; for the root is thereby at once placed in the soil, from which it has to absorb moisture and other things, and the leaves appear in the air and the light, where they are to do their work.

30. Notice how early the seedling plant is complete, that is, becomes a real vegetable, with all its parts, small as the whole thing is (Fig. 21). For it already possesses a root, to connect it with the ground and draw up what it needs from that ; a stem, to elevate the foliage into the light and air ; and leaves, to take in what it gets directly from the air, and to digest the whole in the light (as explained in the last section, Par. 7). That is, it already has all the Organs of Vegetation (Par. 1), all that any plant has before blossoming, so that the little seedling can now take care of itself, and live — just as any larger plant lives — upon the soil and the air. And all it has to do in order to become a full-grown plant, like Fig. 4, is to increase the size of its organs, and to produce more of them ; namely, more stem with more leaves above, and more roots below. We have only to watch our seedling plantlets a week or two longer, and we shall see how this is done.

Cotyledons or ■eed-leave$>

Radicle or atemlet,

Root.

HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED.

31. The root keeps on growing under ground, and sending off more and more small branches or rootlets , each one adding something to the amount of absorbing surface in contact with the moist soil. The little stem likewise lengthens upwards, and the pair of leaves on its summit grow larger. But these soon get their fulb growth ; and we do not yet see, perhaps, where more are to come from. But now a little bud, called the Plumule , appears on the top of the stem (Fig. 22), just between the stalks of the two seed-leaves ; it enlarges and unfolds into a leaf ; this soon is raised upon a new piece of stem, which carries up the leaf, just as the pair of seed-leaves were l'aised by the lengthening of the radicle or first joint of stem in the seed. Then another leaf appears on the summit of this joint of stem, and is raised upon its own joint of stem, and so on. Fig. 23 shows the same plant as Fig. 22 (leaving out the root and the lower part of the stem), at a later stage ; c, c, are the seed-leaves ; l is the next leaf, which came from the plumule of Fig. 22, now well raised on the second joint of stem ; and l is the next, still very small and just unfolding. And so the plant grows on, the whole summer long, producing leaf after leaf, one by one, and raising each on its own joint of stem, arising from the summit of the next below ; — as we see in Fig. 4, at the beginning of the chapter, where many joints of stem have grown in this way (the first with a pair of leaves, the rest with one apiece), and still there are some unfolding ones at the slender young summit.

32. How the Seedling is nourished at the Beginning. Growth requires food, in plants as well as in animals. To grow into a plant, the embryo in a seed must be fed with vegetable matter, or with something out of which vegetable matter can be made. When a plant has established itself, — that is, has sent down its roots into the soil, and spread out some leaves in the air, — it is then able to change mineral matter (viz. earth, air, and water) which it takes in, into vegetable matter, and so to live and grow independently. But at the beginning, before its organs are developed and established in their proper places, the forming plant must be supplied by ready-made vegetable matter, furnished by the mother plant. On this supply the embryo germinating from the seed feeds and grows, — just as the new-

HOW PLANTS GROW FROM THE SEED.

born animal does upon the mother’s milk, or as the chick developing in the egg does upon the prepared nourishment the parent had laid up for the purpose in the yolk.

33. Tear open a fresh Morning-Glory seed, or cut a dried one in two, as in Fig. 17, and this supply will he seen, in the form of a rich and sweetish jelly-like matter, packed away with the embryo, and filling all the spaces between its folds. This is called the Albumen of the seed (that being the Latin name of the white of an egg) ; and this is what the embryo feeds upon, and what enables its little stemlet (Fig. 19, r) to grow, and form its root downwards, and carry up and expand its seed-leaves (c, c) in the air, and so become at once a plantlet (Fig. 21), with root, stem, and leaves, able to take care of itself, just as a chicken does when it escapes from the shell.

34. This moist nourishing jelly would not keep long in that state. So, when the seed ripens and dries, it hardens into a substance like thin dried glue or gum, which will keep for any length of time. And whenever the seed is sown, and absorbs moisture, this matter softens into a jelly again, or gradually liquefies, and the seed-leaves crumpled up among it drink it in at every pore. A portion is consumed in their growth, while the rest is carried into the growing stemlet, thence into the root forming at one end of it, and into the bud (or plumule, Fig. 22) which soon appears at the other end of it, — supplying the materials for their growth.

35. Notice the same thing in Wheat, Oats, or Indian Corn. The last is the best example, because the grain is so large that all the parts may be clearly seen without magnifying. The abundant milk or soft and rich pulp of green corn is the same as the jelly in the seed of the Morning-Glory ; namely, it is the albumen of the seed, provided for the embryo (the chit or germ) to feed upon when growth begins. See Figures 44, 45, &c. This nourishing food (as we well know it to be) was produced by the mother-plant during the summer, was accumulated in the stalk at flowering-time, in the form of sugar, or syrup, was conveyed into the flowers and forming seeds ; a part was used to form the germ or embryo, and the rest was stored up with it in the seed, to serve for its growth into a plantlet the next spring. That it may keep through the winter, or longer, the sweet milk is changed into a starchy pulp, which hardens as the grain ripens into the firm and dry mealy part (or albumen ), which here makes the principal bulk of the seed. But when sown, this meal softens and is slowly changed back into sugar again. And this, dissolved in the water the seed takes in, makes a sweet sap, which the