San Francisco, January, 1882. Vv. R


INTRODUCTORY LESSONS


IN


STRUCTURAL BOTANY.
SECTION 1.—THE BEGINNINGS OF PLANT LIFE.
1. If the first rain of the wet season is followed by warm, sunny
weather, specks of green will soon appear among the dry stems of last
year’s weeds; and in fence corners or other eddy nooks where summer
winds have drifted seeds and covered them with dust, you may find per-
fect mats of baby plants. “ With a shovel skim off a few square inches of
this plant-bearing soil, and carefully examine it. Except a few green
needles, which you recognize as spears of grass, most of these little plants
seem to consist of white stems, which split at the top into pairs of green
leaves. Looking sharply, you may find between each pair of leaves a


1. Seed of Bur-clover just be-
fore it appears above ground. 2.
Same three days older. 3. Mus-
tard. 4. Bur-clover showing the
first and second plumule leaves;
the former simple (apparently),
the latter with three leaflets.
