p.15

15

Vegetable cells are naturally round (or spherical) but by pressure against each other they become polypedial. If [no] compressed equally they become regular 12 sided figures. Though cells are entirely enclosed, they have the power of absorbing water through their walls.

It may seem strange to say that seeds are not the true organs of reproduction. All our ideas of the nature of seed are concentiated upon this as its true office. But the least reflection upon the structure of seed with its young plantlet fully matured, will show that the plant has already been reproduced. All that is necessary after the maturity of the seed is to supply the proper conditions, and allow the young seedling plant to become developed into a full-grown individual.

We may therefore say with safety that the pollen grains contain the true reproductive power. These are entirely analogous to the spores of the lower order of plants, and we have therefore the same law for both the great divisions of plants-the Cryptogamous and the Phaenogamous (*See p 16)

Root-Stem-& Leaves, the fundamental organs of plants, of which all others are merely modifications.

Annual roots are always fibrous, or the fibres spring directly from the base of the culm

[sketch]