Page:An introduction to physiological and systematical botany (1st edition).djvu/45

 Rh ; others pierced with holes ranged in a close spiral line, f. c; in others several of these holes run together, as it were, into interrupted spiral clefts, f. d; and in some those clefts are continued, so that the whole tube, more or less, is cut into a spiral line, f. e; which, in some young branches and tender leaves, will unroll to a great extent, when they are gently torn asunder. The cellular texture especially is extended to every part of the vegetable body, even into the thin skin, called the cuticle, which covers every external part, and into the fine hairs or down which, in some instances, clothe the cuticle itself.

Before we offer any thing upon the supposed functions of these different organs, we shall take a general view of the Vegetable body, beginning at the external part and proceeding inwards.