The Story of the Universe. Volume 3 (of 4)

Volume Ii Can Be Found in Project Gutenberg At:

1, Boletus Satanus; 2, Agaricus Muscarius; 3, Lycoperdon; 4, Morchella Esculenta; 5, Belvella; 6, Agaricus Campestris; 7, Phallus; 8, Agaricus Phalloides; 9, Boletus Edulis; 10, Rhizopogon (Truffle)]

THE STORY OF THE UNIVERSE

Told by Great Scientists and Popular Authors

COLLECTED AND EDITED

By ESTHER SINGLETON

Author of “Turrets, Towers and Temples,” “Wonders of Nature,” “The World’s Great Events,” “Famous Paintings,” Translator of Lavignac’s “Music Dramas of Richard Wagner”

FULLY ILLUSTRATED

Volume Iii

THE EARTH’S GARMENT: FLORA

P. F. COLLIER AND SON NEW YORK

COPYRIGHT 1905 BY P. F. COLLIER & SON

ILLUSTRATIONS

Mushrooms and Fungi Frontispiece

Familiar Trees Opposite p. 901

Herbs, Useful and Medicinal ” 949

Flowers, Curious and Beautiful ” 997

Cacti, Rare Flowers, and Fuci ” 1045

Cereals and Food Plants ” 1093

Bacteria and Vegetable Germs ” 1141

Nuts and Fruits ” 1213

Lichens ” 1261

CONTENTS

THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. David Robertson 859

FLORA OF THE EARLY MESOZOIC. Sir J. William Dawson 871

EXISTING LIFE-FORMS OF PLANTS. Edward Clodd 887

PLANT GEOGRAPHY. Louis Figuier 898

ZONES OF VEGETATION. M. J. Schleiden 930

PHYSIOGNOMY OF PLANTS. Alexander von Humboldt 946

THE GENESIS OF FLOWERS. Alexander S. Wilson 957

LIFE HISTORY OF PLANTS. E. W. Prevost 968

LIFE-FORMS OF PLANTS. Edward Clodd 975

CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. Louis Figuier 984

FRUITS AND SEEDS. Lord Avebury 1002

LEAVES. R. Lloyd Praeger 1016

WIND-FERTILIZED FLOWERS. Alexander S. Wilson 1027

MOVEMENTS OF PLANTS. David Robertson 1037

MOVEMENT IN PLANTS. Charles Darwin 1045

FLOWER COLORATION. Alexander S. Wilson 1061

QUEER FLOWERS. Grant Allen 1068

ATHENA IN THE EARTH. John Ruskin 1077

PROGRESS OF CULTIVATION. Alphonse de Candolle 1091

VEGETABLE MIMICRY AND HOMOMORPHISM. Alexander S. Wilson 1099

THE BAMBOO AND PLANT GROWTH. R. Camper Day 1114

THE REIGN OF EVERGREENS. Grant Allen 1125

OUR MICROSCOPIC FOES. A. Winkelried Williams 1131

FOREST FORMATIONS. M. J. Schleiden 1135

THE HIGH WOODS. Charles Kingsley 1146

MILK-SAP PLANTS. M. J. Schleiden 1161

NUTS. Grant Allen 1174

THE CACTUS TRIBE. M. J. Schleiden 1180

FUNGI. Hugh Macmillan 1189

FAIRY RINGS. A. B. Steele 1204

LICHENS. Hugh Macmillan 1208

MOSSES. Hugh Macmillan 1220

EUROPEAN SEA-WEEDS. P. Martin Duncan 1230

SARGASSUM. Cuthbert Collingwood 1263

GLOSSARY OF BOTANICAL TERMS 1269

THE STORY OF THE UNIVERSE

(VOLUME THREE)

THE STORY OF THE UNIVERSE

THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM --DAVID ROBERTSON

There is perhaps scarcely any science that can be more within the reach of the means of the humblest student than the science of botany. A pocket lens, a sharp penknife, and a book descriptive of the flora of the district or country where one lives will form a sufficient equipment to enable the student to name and classify whatever plants he may meet with in his rambles in search of them.

It is by no means intended to imply that finding out the names of plants and being able to classify them constitute the whole science of botany. The truth is that many of the problems in connection with classification are most abstruse, so much so that even now the most recent and generally received system of classification can only be considered provisional. This is especially the case in regard to the lower forms of vegetable life. The life-history of many of the most minute and lowly plants is but imperfectly known, owing to their extreme minuteness and the different forms which they assume at the various stages of their life-history.

This, however, does not detract from the pleasure which any one may derive from being able to describe and name any flowering plants which are to be found in any country at certain seasons.

The dependence of mankind on plants is too obvious to require mention.

To a large extent the vegetation of a district determines its character; for without plants no landscape would possess any particular attractiveness, and every one knows the depressing effect produced by a barren, treeless waste. The contrast between this and fields rich in pasture has occurred to every one; and a well-wooded country never fails to please the eye of the observer.

Mighty forests, teeming with life, have a powerful influence on the imagination; and the value of forests both as regards their effect on climate and their economic importance has been so thoroughly recognized that in the case of India stringent measures have been adopted for their preservation.

Some knowledge of plant life also enables one to guard against the evil and often fatal effects produced by eating poisonous fruits and poisonous fungi.

Some of the lowly organized flowerless plants are man’s most deadly and insidious enemies. These from their excessive minuteness are quite invisible to the naked eye.

Before proceeding further, it will be necessary to give a brief account of the different parts which go to compose the complete flowering plant. The reader who desires a full and detailed account of the different organs of the flowering and flowerless plants will find this in any standard text-book of botany.

We will take any full-grown flowering plant and begin with the root.

The root may be called the descending portion of the axis.

The ascending portion of the axis is usually supplied with leaves, flowers, and green coloring matter, whereas the root is usually devoid of these.

The root generally penetrates into the soil and fulfils a double function.

It is by means of the roots that the plant is attached to the earth and prevented from being blown about by the winds.

In the case of large forest trees, the far-spreading roots have an immense power of resistance. The large surface of a giant tree in full leaf has to endure an enormous lateral pressure during a high wind, and even hurricanes may fail to uproot a large tree, which they may snap asunder. Not only does the root by penetrating the soil attach the plant to the earth, but it absorbs nourishment from the soil for the support of the plant. The root, therefore, fulfils a double function.

The root is at first furnished with a conical hood of cellular tissue, i. e., tissue consisting entirely of cells or little closed bags made up of an outside wall and contents.

The root cup is well seen in some kinds of water-plants, such as duckweed.

There are plants whose roots do not descend. Certain plants hang from the branches of trees, and though they have roots these roots never penetrate the soil. Plants of this kind are called Epiphytes (Greek epi, upon, and phyton, plant). Aerial orchids, which grow in warm and moist parts of India and other countries, are attached to branches of trees or other kinds of support, and their roots hang down from the peculiar stems and are very soft and delicate at the tips.

It must be borne in mind that there is no absolute distinction between root and stem; for some trees have roots which form lateral buds, viz., Pyrus japonica, Maclura aurantiaca, and many others.

This is quite in accordance with the fact that in the organic world different organs frequently shade into one another.

The true root of the plant in its earliest state of existence, that is, as it exists in the seed prior to germination, is the downward prolongation of the axis.

In the case of the division of flowering plants called Monocotyledons (Greek monos, single, and kotyledon, seed-leaf), and in such so-called flowerless plants as ferns, the lower end of the axis soon ceases to grow and the roots which supply these plants with nourishment are really lateral growths. The roots of plants are variously named. Sometimes the branches of the roots are small, and the central axis thick and of considerable length. This kind of root is named a tap-root, and may be well seen in the carrot.

In the turnip, beet, and other plants, where this organ is developed in such a manner as to serve as a reservoir of nutriment, the root is tuberous.

Many roots are fibrous; this may be well seen in grasses.

The perennial woody forms of fibrous roots are very characteristic of shrubby Dicotyledons (plants with two seed-leaves).

Leaves are of two kinds, namely, foliage-leaves and flower-leaves.

A leaf is generally a broad, flat, horizontal surface. It is usually thin, and can be divided by a perpendicular plane, the median plane, into two similar halves.

When the leaves are what is called symmetrical, the parts into which they are divided are counterparts.

If one of these parts were held in front of a looking-glass, the reflected image of this part would represent the part from which it had been separated.

Many leaves, however, can not thus be divided. When this is the case they are said to be unsymmetrical.

The tropical plant begonia affords an excellent example of an unsymmetrical leaf.

The leaves of the spruce are not flat but needle-shaped.

In rushes and many species of stone-crops the leaves are cylindrical or round.

The leaf consists of three parts, viz., the sheath, the stalk or petiole, and the lamina or blade. The sheath incloses the stem at the insertion of the leaf, and has a tubular or sheath-like form. It is well seen in grasses and such plants as celery, corn, parsnip, carrot, and other plants belonging to the Umbelliferæ [Lat. umbella (umbra, shade), little shade, and ferre, to bear].

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