. The floral kingdom : its history, sentiment and poetry : A dictionary of more than three hundred plants, with the genera and families to which they belong, and the language of each illustrated with appropriate gems to poetry . Flower language; Flowers in literature. jSfrurJ^urp of pianfx* I m ^NIMATED nature includes, besides animals, all plants, by which are meant in this connection the living organisms that constitute the vegetable kingdom, such as trees, shrubs, herbs, vegetables, gi-asses, ferns, etc. It will be recollected that there are three great "king- doms" in nature — th
. The floral kingdom : its history, sentiment and poetry : A dictionary of more than three hundred plants, with the genera and families to which they belong, and the language of each illustrated with appropriate gems to poetry . Flower language; Flowers in literature. jSfrurJ^urp of pianfx* I m ^NIMATED nature includes, besides animals, all plants, by which are meant in this connection the living organisms that constitute the vegetable kingdom, such as trees, shrubs, herbs, vegetables, gi-asses, ferns, etc. It will be recollected that there are three great "king- doms" in nature — the mineral, the vegetable and the animal; and of these the one we are at present concerned with holds the middle place. Plants are living things, and the superior vegetables approach so nearly to what are generally considered inferjor classes of the animal kingdom, that scientists are at a loss to, determine the exact 1 dividing line. On the other hand, it is well known that certain minerals are remains of former vegetation. Hence, in nature one kingdom inerges into another by gradations so fine that where one begins and the other ends remains a sort of mysterious secret eluding the analytical powers of man. Vegetable life, like animal life, is a continued succession of renewal and decay, of assimilation and elimination. Growth may therefore be said to be the result of the assimilating processes in excess; maturity, of a balance of the assimilating and elimi- nating; and decay, of an excess of the eliminating processes. Vegetables derive their support from the atmosphere, as well as from the soil, and, like animals, contain a far greater proportion of water than of anything else. The other ingredients are carbon, derived from the carbonic acid gas imbibed from the air; often a little nitrogen; and generally a small quantity of mineral substances absorbed in liquid form through the roots. CHEMISTRY OF PLANTS. Plants are now generally recognized as containing about eighteen of t
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectflowers, bookyear1877