Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany | Page 5

��?150. The contents of the cell contracted by the action of a solution of sugar.]
On placing a cell into a fluid denser than the cell sap (e.g. a ten-per-cent solution of sugar in water), a portion of the water will be extracted from the cell, and we shall then see the protoplasm receding from the wall (Fig.?4, C), showing that it is normally in a state of tension due to pressure from within of the cell sap. The cell wall shows the same thing though in a less degree, owing to its being much more rigid than the protoplasmic lining. It is owing to the partial collapsing of the cells, consequent on loss of water, that plants wither when the supply of water is cut off.
As cells grow, new ones are formed in various ways. If the new cells remain together, cell aggregates, called tissues, are produced, and of these tissues are built up the various organs of the higher plants. The simplest tissues are rows of cells, such as form the hairs covering the surface of the organs of many flowering plants (Fig.?3), and are due to a division of the cells in a single direction. If the divisions take place in three planes, masses of cells, such as make up the stems, etc., of the higher plants, result (Fig.?4, A, B).
CHAPTER III.
CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS.--PROTOPHYTES.
For the sake of convenience it is desirable to collect into groups such plants as are evidently related; but as our knowledge of many forms is still very imperfect, any classification we may adopt must be to a great extent only provisional, and subject to change at any time, as new forms are discovered or others become better understood.
The following general divisions are usually accepted: I.?Sub-kingdom (or Branch); II.?Class; III.?Order; IV.?Family; V.?Genus; VI.?Species.
To illustrate: The white pine belongs to the highest great division (sub-kingdom) of the plant kingdom. The plants of this division all produce seeds, and hence are called "spermaphytes" ("seed plants"). They may be divided into two groups (classes), distinguished by certain peculiarities in the flowers and seeds. These are named respectively "gymnosperms" and "angiosperms," and to the first our plant belongs. The gymnosperms may be further divided into several subordinate groups (orders), one of which, the conifers, or cone-bearing evergreens, includes our plant. This order includes several families, among them the fir family (Abietine?), including the pines and firs. Of the sub-divisions (genera, sing. genus) of the fir family, one of the most familiar is the genus Pinus, which embraces all the true pines. Comparing different kinds of pines, we find that they differ in the form of the cones, arrangement of the leaves, and other minor particulars. The form we have selected differs from all other native forms in its cones, and also in having the leaves in fives, instead of twos or threes, as in most other kinds. Therefore to distinguish the white pine from all other pines, it is given a "specific" name, strobus.
The following table will show more plainly what is meant:
Sub-kingdom, Spermaphyta. /--------------------^---------------------\ Includes all spermaphytes, or seed plants.
Class, Gymnosperm?. /------------^------------\ All naked-seeded plants.
Order, Conifer?. /--------------^--------------\ All cone-bearing evergreens.
Family, Abietine?. /--------^--------\ Firs, Pines, etc.
Genus, Pinus. /---^---\ Pines.
Species, Strobus. /-----^-----\ White Pine.
SUB-KINGDOM I.
PROTOPHYTES.
The name Protophytes (Protophyta) has been applied to a large number of simple plants, which differ a good deal among themselves. Some of them differ strikingly from the higher plants, and resemble so remarkably certain low forms of animal life as to be quite indistinguishable from them, at least in certain stages. Indeed, there are certain forms that are quite as much animal as vegetable in their attributes, and must be regarded as connecting the two kingdoms. Such forms are the slime moulds (Fig.?5), Euglena (Fig.?9), Volvox (Fig.?10), and others.
[Illustration: FIG.?5.--A, a portion of a slime mould growing on a bit of rotten wood, ��?3. B, outline of a part of the same, ��?25. C, a small portion showing the densely granular character of the protoplasm, ��?150. D, a group of spore cases of a slime mould (Trichia), of about the natural size. E, two spore cases, ��?5. The one at the right has begun to open. F, a thread (capillitium) and spores of Trichia, ��?50. G, spores. H, end of the thread, ��?300. I, zo?spores of Trichia, ��?300. i, ciliated form; ii, amoeboid forms. n, nucleus. v, contractile vacuole. J, K, sporangia of two common slime moulds. J, Stemonitis, ��?2. K, Arcyria, ��?4.]
Other protophytes, while evidently enough of vegetable nature, are nevertheless very different in some respects from the higher plants.
The protophytes may be divided into three classes: I.?The slime moulds (Myxomycetes); II.?The Schizophytes; III.?The green monads (Volvocine?).
CLASS I.--THE SLIME MOULDS.
These curious organisms are among the most puzzling forms with which the botanist has to do, as they are so much like some of the