and air. The plant is anchored or fixed in the soil by the roots. Plants have been called "earth parasites."
The Foliage Part.—The leaves precede the flowers in point of time or life of the plant. The flowers always precede the fruits and seeds. Many plants die when the seeds have matured. The whole mass of leaves of any plant or any branch is known as its foliage. In some cases, as in crocuses, the flowers seem to precede the leaves; but the leaves that made the food for these flowers grew the preceding year.
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Fig. 11.—Plant of a Wild Sunflower.
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Fig. 12.—Framework of Fig. 11.
The Plant Generation.—The course of a plant's life, with all the events through which the plant naturally passes, is known as the plant's life-history. The life-history embraces various stages, or epochs, as dormant seed, germination, growth, flowering, fruiting. Some plants run their course in a few weeks or months, and some live for centuries.
The entire life-period of a plant is called a generation. It is the whole period from birth to normal death, without reference to the various stages or events through which it passes.
A generation begins with the young seed, not with germi-
