this causes the eroded or bitten-off appearance; while new lateral branches shooting out from the portion left, compensate the want of the old main

root. *

The Scabiosa succisa has its English name from a superstitious notion that the devil bit it off; for, as Gerard remarks "it is commonly called Morsus diaboli, or Divel's bite, of the root (as it seemeth)." "For the superstitious people hold opinion, that the divell for the envie that he beareth to mankind bit it off, bicause it wood be otherwise good for many uses." Threlkeld says that it is a great sudorific, and that "the name Devil's-bit made that scribbler Colepepper drol upon the ignorant Fryars, who say the root was once longer, until the devil bit away the rest of it for spite, for he needed it not to make him sweat, who is always tormented with fear of the day of judgment."+ The plant is at present destitute of any beneficial qualities; for, as Sir James E. Smith wittily observes, "the malice of the devil has unhappily been so successful, that no virtues can now be found in the remainder of the root or herb."‡

3. RADIX ramosa. The ramose or branched root is more frequent than any other. It is divided into numerous ramifications, like the branches of a tree, and all trees have roots of this kind. The structure of the ramose root differs in scarcely any respect

* Vide Willdenow, 261. note.

Intr. to Bot. ed. 4th. p. 83.

+ Irish Herbal,

from that of the trunk and branches; and indeed the branches, stem, and root of a tree may be considered as essentially the same, since any apparent difference seems to arise merely from their being placed in different circumstances. Branches may,

for the sake of illustration, be considered as roots. growing in the air; and roots as branches growing in the earth. Trees of various kinds have been inverted, their branches that formerly bore leaves have been changed into roots by being buried in the soil; and the roots, elevated into the atmosphere, have become covered with foliage. For this experiment the willow answers particularly well, and as a farther illustration of the principle, I may mention a method of propagating various fruittrees practised in China and Bengal.

Suppose this figure to represent a fruit-bearing

remove a circle of the bark of about an inch in length, the space for instance from (b) to (c), this being done the interspace (a) will of course be naked; the next step therefore is to surround this naked circle with a ball of earth, which is to be

DWARF FRUIT TREES OF CHINA.

11

retained with a slip of matting, and then a vessel of water is suspended over it, with a small orifice just sufficient to let as much water slowly drop as will keep the earth moist. This operation is to be done in spring; in autumn, the branch is to be sawn off, and then it will be found that a number of roots have sprung from the upper circumference (c) and have shot into the ball; the branch is then to be planted in the ground, and in the following year it will be a small tree, bearing fruit.* In the roots of some trees we find a particularly strong tendency to assume the functions of branches when exposed to the atmosphere; hence we learn that in the cocoa-tree (Theobroma Cacao), "flowers spring out from the ligneous roots wherever the earth leaves them uncovered." + When trees also are blown down, and survive, their roots

* The above is the method used by the Chinese for obtain. ing dwarf specimens of fruit-bearing trees, of which they are remarkably fond. In Lord Macartney's Embassy to China, the following account is given: "The hall of audience furnished also another object of curiosity, striking at least to strangers. On several tables were placed in frames, filled with earth, dwarf pines, oaks, and orange-trees, bearing fruit. None of them exceeded, in height, two feet Some of those dwarfs bore all the marks of decay from age: and upon the surface of the soil were interspersed small heaps of stones, which in proportion to the adjoining dwarfs, might be termed rocks. These were honeycombed and moss-grown, as if untouched for ages, which served to maintain the illusion, and to give an antique appearance to the whole. This kind of stunted vegetation seemed to be much relished by the curious in China; and specimens of it were to be found in every considerable dwelling. —Staunton's Embassy, vol. i. p. 428. + Humboldt's Pers. Nar. vol. iv. p. 234.

which are exposed to the air become covered with foliage. *

4. RADIX fibrosa, a fibrous root.

This is found in most annual plants, and in most grasses. It consists entirely of fibres or threads, the ultimate divisions of which are named fibrillæ or fibrils. The fibres are frequently much branched; and in grasses which grow in loose sand are generally clothed thickly with down. Sometimes they are filiform or like threads, and in the palms and succulent plants of hot climates, they resemble cords, spreading far and wide under the surface of the soil, and have been named funiliform, or cordlike roots.

a, Fibrous root of a grass.

b,

Ditto

downy, from growing in loose sand. c, Filiform root of duckweed.

*"On the morning of the 28th, I saw a tamarisk of an enormous size planted on the bank of the Nile: it had been loosened at the roots by progressive inundations, and at last overthrown; the greater number of its roots had ranged themselves upright, and produced leaves; the old branches on which the tree had fallen were fixed in the earth, and served as a footstool, so that the enormous trunk, which remained suspended horizontally, by a confusion in the sys

TUBEROUS ROOTS.

13

5. RADIX tuberosa, a tuberous or knobbed root. It consists of fleshy knobs or tubers, connected to each other by intervening threads or fibres, as in the potato and Jerusalem artichoke, Fig. 5. (a) The term, however, is of more extensive latitude, and is applied to plants which have only one tuber, and there are several varieties of the tuberous root which have their appropriate names. Sometimes the knobs are connected by intervening cords in form of a necklace or chain, and hence the term moniliform root (monile, a necklace, Lat.), as in dropwort and king's-spear, Fig. 5. (b); or the tubers are in contact with each other, as in some species of grass, Fig. 5. (c)

Sometimes a great many small tubers or bulbs grow in clusters, or scattered on the radical fibres, forming a granulated root (RADIX granulata), as in

tem of circulation; vegetated in every direction, and it gave such a grotesque appearance, that the Turks had not failed to make a miracle of this vegetable monster." Denon's Trav.