Page:First course in biology (IA firstcourseinbio00bailrich).pdf/126

 Chlorophyll ("leaf green") is the agent that secures the energy by means of which carbon dioxid is utilized. This material is contained in the leaf cells in the form of grains (p. 86); the grains themselves are protoplasm, only the coloring matter being chlorophyll. The chlorophyll bodies or grains are often most abundant near the upper surface of the leaf, where they can secure the greatest amount of light. Without this green coloring matter, there would be no reason for the large flat surfaces which the leaves possess, and no reason for the fact that the leaves are borne most abundantly at the ends of branches, where the light is most available. Plants with colored leaves, as coleus, have chlorophyll, but it is masked by other coloring matter. This other coloring matter is usually soluble in hot water: boil a coleus leaf and notice that it becomes green and the water becomes colored.

Plants grown in darkness are yellow and slender, and do not reach maturity. Compare the potato sprouts that have grown from a tuber lying in the dark cellar with those that have grown normally in the bright light. The shoots have become slender and are devoid of chlorophyll; and when the food that is stored in the tuber is exhausted, these shoots will have lived useless lives. A plant that has been grown in darkness from the seed will soon die, although for a time the little seedling will grow very tall and slender: why? Light favors the production of chlorophyll, and the chlorophyll is the agent in the making of the organic carbon compounds. Sometimes chlorophyll is found in buds and seeds, but in most cases these places are not perfectly dark. Notice how potato tubers develop chlorophyll, or become green, when exposed to light.

Photosynthesis.—Carbon dioxid diffuses into the leaf; during sunlight it is used, and oxygen is given off. How the