Proserpina, Volume 1 / Studies of Wayside Flowers, While the Air was Yet Pure Among the Alps and in the Scotland and England Which My Father Knew

by John Ruskin

I. The Root.

Origin of the word Root [27]

The offices of the root are threefold: namely, Tenure, Nourishment, and Animation [27]-[34]

The essential parts of a Root are two: the Limbs and Fibres [33]

I. The Limb is the gathered mass of fibres, or at least of fibrous substance, which extends itself in search of nourishment [32]

II. The Fibre is the organ by which the nourishment is received [32]

The inessential or accidental parts of roots, which are attached to the roots of some plants, but not to those of others, (and are, indeed, for the most part absent,) are three: namely, Store-Houses, Refuges, and Ruins [34]

III. Store-houses contain the food of the future plant [34]

IV. Refuges shelter the future plant itself for a time [35]