NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
1905
Copyright, 1898, 1905
BY
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
ROBERT DRUMMOND, PRINTER, NEW YORK
PREFACE.
The present book is the result of a revision and elaboration of the author’s “Elementary Botany,” New York, 1898. The general plan of the parts on physiology and general morphology remains unchanged. A number of the chapters in the physiological part are practically untouched, while others are thoroughly revised and considerable new matter is added, especially on the subjects of nutrition and digestion. The principal chapters on general morphology are unchanged or only slightly modified, the greatest change being in a revision of the subject of the morphology of fertilization in the gymnosperms and angiosperms in order to bring this subject abreast of the discoveries of the past few years. One of the greatest modifications has been in the addition of chapters on the classification of the algæ and fungi with studies of additional examples for the benefit of those schools where the time allowed for the first year’s course makes desirable the examination of a broader range of representative plants. The classification is also carried out with greater definiteness, so that the regular sequence of classes, orders, and families is given at the close of each of the subkingdoms. Thus all the classes, all the orders (except a few in the algæ), and many of the families, are given for the algæ, fungi, mosses, liverworts, pteridophytes, gymnosperms, and angiosperms.
But by far the greatest improvement has been in the complete reorganization, rewriting, and elaboration of the part dealing with ecology, which has been made possible by studies of the past few years, so that the subject can be presented in a more logical and coherent form. As a result the subject-matter of the book falls naturally into three parts, which may be passed in review as follows:
Part I. Physiology. This deals with the life processes of plants, as absorption, transpiration, conduction, photosynthesis, nutrition, assimilation, digestion, respiration, growth, and irritability. Since protoplasm is fundamental to all the life work of the plant, this subject is dealt with first, and the student is led through the study of, and experimentation with, the simpler as well as some of the higher plants, to a general understanding of protoplasm and the special way in which it enables the plant to carry on its work and to adjust itself to the conditions of its existence. This study also serves the purpose of familiarizing the pupil with some of the lower and unfamiliar plants.