Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-01-16
Lectures al the Smithsonian Instit~slcn.
REPORTED roR TUE ANKRcAs. oRGAS-
,N,rovy AND GRowTH OF PLANTS.

ANATOMY AND GROWTH OF PLANTS
o. p.ov AsI GxAY. or HARVARD UsNEnsIrY.
The leaf when Il first appears from the seed or
ths bud a ,f small size, the joint Of the stem
which supports the leaf soon acquires It's length,
and the next joint elongates in the same manner,
but II Is not stretched the joint increases through
out its whole length.
The green pulp of leaves is made up OF vast
number of cells, enclosing the green matter, the
Juices, and products of the leaf. These cells are
loosely packed in some parts and closely In others
The skin of the leaf consists Of single layer Of
these cells, and in some leaves as in the oeander
Of two or more layers.
Vegetation Is built up of these cells, very much
as house is built up of bricks with the great diff
ference that the plant is itself the builder. Their
sizes vary, In different plants from l-Soth TO
l-500th of an inch in diameter. Some water
plants, composed Of few cells, sometimes drawn
into tubes Of an inch or two in length Hairs or
bristles, composed of rows of these cells, some
times grow on plants.
OF these the longest known, grow on the surface
Of the seed of the cotton. The circumstance that
gives this plant It's value is that as the boil opens
the simple and even cylinders become twisted and
attened SO as to adhere to each other as they are
twisted or drawn out.
The walls of the cells are transparent, 80 that
they show the color of the matter the cells con-
tain. These cells are thin and delicate, and some
times remain 30, but when the cells are to make a
part Of permanent structure, tho walls thcken
more or less TO have greater strength. Thissis
done by internal deposites, over most OF the sur
faaa Int 1anx ;rn M
bare, which look like pores. Sometimes they ill
up, SO as to almost obterate the cavities, and con-
vert the soft tissues into the hardness OF wood,
shell. or stone. But there Is no open continuous
system of vessels conveying fluids in unbrokcn
channels from one part Of the plant to the other.
But fluids do pass, nevertheless, for the walls are
permeable to fluid.
vestment Just beneath the solid wall is a layer
OF very soft and tender substance, which existed
before and created the cell wall by its secretions.
The wall soon ceases to live, the soft glutinous
substance that lines the cell wall is endowed with
life similar to that of the lowest and simplest an
imals, and shows its vitality not only by growth,
but also by circulation.
Growth of plants consists in the increase Of these
cells in sze and their multiplication in number.
The process is generally more rapid than would
be thought some stems on favorable day shoot
up from the ground some three or four inches in
twentyfour hours; the century plant, Its stem OF
six or seven inches in diameter often in our con-
servatories grows at the rate Of one foot per day.
and in Mexico has been known to grow two feet !;
mushroom growth is proverbial expression.
In growth, cells increase in size and multiply in
number. They increase their size by incorporating
more nourishing juice into their substance interst
TALLY. But they attain their full size, except
in water plants, which, consisting of few cells, in
crease in size for long while. The cells are null
tipied by either dividing the living interior Of the
cell into two new cells, and again in four more
each acquiring cell wall of its own--the old cell
at length being obliterated, as the new one en-
larges-or the cell simply divides into two, and a
partition forms between them, when the top part
clopgates and new partition is made, and the
process is repeated ad infaitum The most simple
plant consists Of but one cell, OF which the red
plant Is instance 1t is without organs, yet
doing all the needful work of vegetation. The
next form is that of the Chiorococc,mi, found on
the surface Of damp and shaded pavement, which
consists of two individuals in contact
Nature delights in cxuberant variety--where she
has only single cell to work on, she will mould 1t
into almost all imaginable forms; one-celled
plant, beginning oval may clongate at both ends,
thus initiating stem and root. The next step
toward the perfect plant is where it begins to have
direction. II is first seen in the Characiuns, one
celled oval plant, from one end of which protrudes
point which fixes itself to whatever it grows on
in the water, while the body enlarges, and comes
10 maturity.
Plants with the power Of producing new cells by
division az they grow and retaining them in con-
nection, is the next form in the scale, viz; Plants
Of rows of cells placed end to end either in strict
single row, or with branches Next by multiph-
cation IN two directions, leaf is formed. Next,
by the addition of row of cells In another direc-
ton the solid stem Ia constructed and next In the
moss, the STEM leaf and root are put together and
90 Ia realized the complete type of the plant.