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Elementary Botany — Context and Discussion
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Project Gutenberg
2021
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Botany; Plants; Botany -- Textbooks
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150,524
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655 min
Text sections
60
The catalog record for Elementary Botany — Context and Discussion provides practical reading context through 150,524 words, 10 hr 55 min estimated reading time, and 60 detected text sections.
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Project Gutenberg record #64601
Atkinson's 1905 textbook uses fern unrolling and bulbil formation to illustrate sporophyte independence, linking catalog subjects like 'Botany -- Textbooks' to precise observational studies of plant structures and life cycles.
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HAPTER I. PAGE PROTOPLASM. 1
CHAPTER II. ABSORPTION, DIFFUSION, OSMOSE. 13
CHAPTER III. HOW PLANTS OBTAIN WATER. 22
CHAPTER IV. TRANSPIRATION, OR THE LOSS OF WATER BY PLANTS. 35
CHAPTER V. PATH OF MOVEMENT OF WATER IN PLANTS. 48
CHAPTER VI. MECHANICAL USES OF WATER. 56
CHAPTER VII. STARCH AND SUGAR FORMATION. 60 1. The Gases Concerned. 60 2. Where Starch is Formed. 64 3. Chlorophyll and the Formation of Starch. 67
CHAPTER VIII. STARCH AND SUGAR CONCLUDED; ANALYSIS OF PLANT SUBSTANCE. 73 1. Translocation of Starch. 73 2. Sugar, and Digestion of Starch. 75 3. Rough Analysis of Plant Substance. 79
CHAPTER IX. HOW PLANTS OBTAIN THEIR FOOD, I. 81 1. Sources of Plant Food. 81 2. Parasites and Saprophytes. 83 3. How Fungi Obtain their Food. 86 4. Mycorhiza. 91 5. Nitrogen gatherers. 92 6. Lichens. 93
CHAPTER X. HOW PLANTS OBTAIN THEIR FOOD, II. 97 Seedlings, 97 Digestion, 107 Assimilation 109
CHAPTER XI. RESPIRATION. 110
CHAPTER XII. GROWTH. 118
CHAPTER XIII. IRRITABILITY. 125
PART II. MORPHOLOGY AND LIFE HISTORY OF REPRESENTATIVE PLANTS.
CHAPTER XIV. SPIROGYRA. 136
CHAPTER XV. VAUCHERIA. 142
CHAPTER XVI. ŒDOGONIUM. 147
CHAPTER XVII. COLEOCHÆTE. 153
CHAPTER XVIII. CLASSIFICATION AND ADDITIONAL STUDIES OF THE ALGÆ. 158
CHAPTER XIX. FUNGI: MUCOR AND SAPROLEGNIA. 177
CHAPTER XX. FUNGI CONTINUED (“Rusts” Uredineæ). 187
CHAPTER XXI. THE HIGHER FUNGI. 195
CHAPTER XXII. CLASSIFICATION OF THE FUNGI. 213
CHAPTER XXIII. LIVERWORTS (Hepaticæ). 222 Riccia, 222 Marchantia. 226
CHAPTER XXIV. LIVERWORTS CONTINUED. 231 Sporogonium of Marchantia. 231 Leafy-stemmed Liverworts. 236 The Horned Liverworts. 240 Classification of the Liverworts. 242
CHAPTER XXV. MOSSES (Musci). 243 Classification of Mosses. 248
CHAPTER XXVI. FERNS. 251
CHAPTER XXVII. FERNS CONTINUED. 262 Gametophyte of Ferns. 262 Sporophyte. 268
CHAPTER XXVIII. DIMORPHISM OF FERNS. 273
CHAPTER XXIX. HORSETAILS. 280
CHAPTER XXX. CLUB MOSSES. 284
CHAPTER XXXI. QUILLWORTS (Isoetes). 289
CHAPTER XXXII. COMPARISON OF FERNS AND THEIR RELATIVES. 292 Classification of the Pteridophytes. 295
CHAPTER XXXIII. GYMNOSPERMS. 297
CHAPTER XXXIV. FURTHER STUDIES ON GYMNOSPERMS. 311
CHAPTER XXXV. MORPHOLOGY OF THE ANGIOSPERMS: TRILLIUM; DENTARIA. 318
CHAPTER XXXVI. GAMETOPHYTE AND SPOROPHYTE OF ANGIOSPERMS. 325
CHAPTER XXXVII. MORPHOLOGY OF THE NUCLEUS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF GAMETOPHYTE AND SPOROPHYTE. 340
PART III. PLANT MEMBERS IN RELATION TO ENVIRONMENT.
CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE PLANT. 349 I. Organization of Plant Members. 349 II. Organization of Plant Tissues. 356
CHAPTER XXXIX. THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF STEMS. 365 I. Erect Stems. 365 II. Creeping, Climbing, and Floating Stems. 369 III. Specialized Shoots and Shoots for Storage of Food. 372 IV. Annual Growth and Winter Protection of Shoots and Buds. 374
CHAPTER XL. FOLIAGE LEAVES. 383 I. General Form and Arrangement of Leaves. 383 II. Protective Modifications of Leaves. 392 III. Protective Positions. 395 IV. Relation of Leaves to Light. 397 V. Leaf Patterns. 404
CHAPTER XLI. THE ROOT. 410 I. Function of Roots. 410 II. Kinds of Roots. 415
CHAPTER XLII. THE FLORAL SHOOT. 419 I. The Parts of the Flower. 419 II. Kinds of Flowers. 421 III. Arrangement of Flowers, or Mode of Inflorescence. 426
CHAPTER XLIII. POLLINATION. 433
CHAPTER XLIV. THE FRUIT. 450 I. Parts of the Fruit. 450 II. Indehiscent Fruits. 451 III. Dehiscent Fruits. 452 IV. Fleshy and Juicy Fruits. 454 V. Reinforced, or Accessory, Fruits. 455 VI. Fruits of Gymnosperms. 456 VII. “Fruit” of Ferns, Mosses, etc. 457
CHAPTER XLV. SEED DISPERSAL. 458
CHAPTER XLVI. VEGETATION IN RELATION TO ENVIRONMENT. 464
CHAPTER XLVII. CLASSIFICATION OF ANGIOSPERMS. 487
=1.= In the study of plant life and growth, it will be found convenient first to inquire into the nature of the substance which we call the living material of plants. For plant growth, as well as some of the other processes of plant life, are at bottom dependent on this living matter. This living matter is called in general _protoplasm_.
=2.= In most cases protoplasm cannot be seen without the help of a microscope, and it will be necessary for us here to employ one if we wish to see protoplasm, and to satisfy ourselves by examination that the substance we are dealing with _is_ protoplasm.
=3.= We shall find it convenient first to examine protoplasm in some of the simpler plants; plants which from their minute size and simple structure are so transparent that when examined with the microscope the interior can be seen.
For our first study let us take a plant known as _spirogyra_, though there are a number of others which would serve the purpose quite as well, and may quite as easily be obtained for study.
Protoplasm in spirogyra.
=4. The plant spirogyra.=—This plant is found in the water of pools, ditches, ponds, or in streams of slow-running water. It is green in color, and occurs in loose mats, usually floating near the surface. The name “pond-scum” is sometimes given to this plant, along with others which are more or less closely related. It is an _alga_, and belongs to a group of plants known as _algæ_. If we lift a portion of it from the water, we see that the mat is made up of a great tangle of green silky threads. Each one of these threads is a plant, so that the number contained in one of these floating mats is very great.
George Francis Atkinson’s Elementary Botany (third edition, 1905) opens with a preface that foregrounds a major structural change: the addition of a fully reorganized ecology section, made possible by recent studies. The book is divided into three parts—physiology, general morphology, and ecology—but the excerpts show that the author’s method is to ground each concept in a specific plant example. For instance, the discussion of ferns moves from the unrolling of leaves (fig. 287) to the production of bulbils in Cystopteris bulbifera, using these observations to introduce the sporophyte-gametophyte alternation. This approach ties the catalog subject “Botany -- Textbooks” to a hands-on, evidence-based pedagogy.
From Fern Leaves to Life Cycles
The excerpts on ferns reveal Atkinson’s characteristic move: he begins with a visible, often mechanical detail—the unrolling of a fern leaf “as if it was rolled up” (fig. 287)—and uses it to lead into broader biological concepts. The description of Cystopteris bulbifera’s bulbils is precise: “short thick fleshy leaves” enclosing a stem and young root, easily detached to grow in moist crevices. This concrete observation then becomes the basis for asking whether ferns have a gametophyte phase. Atkinson writes that the sporophyte “has a root of its own, and is attached to the soil,” contrasting it with the dependent sporogonium of mosses. The textbook thus builds from morphology to life-cycle comparison, a pattern that recurs throughout the work.
Ecology as a Reorganized Core
The preface states that the greatest improvement in this edition is “the complete reorganization, rewriting, and elaboration of the part dealing with ecology.” Atkinson notes that this was made possible by studies of the past few years, allowing the subject to be presented “in a more logical and coherent form.” While the excerpts do not show the ecology section itself, the preface’s emphasis suggests that the book’s catalog subject “Botany” is not merely descriptive but includes plant-environment interactions. The fern examples—such as the habitat of Cystopteris bulbifera (“shady rocky places”) and the mention of greenhouse ferns for winter study—hint at an ecological awareness that Atkinson likely developed in the revised chapters.
Classification as a Pedagogical Framework
Atkinson’s preface outlines a systematic classification: “all the classes, all the orders (except a few in the algæ), and many of the families” are given for each subkingdom, from algae to angiosperms. This structure aligns with the catalog subject “Botany -- Textbooks,” which typically require a clear taxonomic framework. However, the excerpts show that classification is not presented as a dry list; it emerges from the study of representative plants. For example, the fern chapter ends with a note on the sporophyte as the “spore-bearing phase,” leading naturally to a question about the gametophyte. The textbook thus integrates classification with functional morphology, a design that reflects Atkinson’s aim to make botany “logical and coherent.”
Readers approaching Elementary Botany should note that its value lies less in encyclopedic coverage than in its method of using specific, observable plant features to teach general principles. The fern bulbils and leaf unrolling are not mere curiosities; they are entry points into the alternation of generations and the independence of the sporophyte. Atkinson’s revised ecology section, though not excerpted here, likely extends this approach to plant-environment relationships. For a textbook from 1905, the emphasis on recent research and logical organization remains noteworthy.
That rainy afternoon, Atkinson’s ferns seemed to uncurl at their own pace, unhurried as the drops on the window. I lingered on the bulbil’s quiet severance—a whole plant slipping free. Later, I found myself drifting to The Power of Movement in Plants — Background and Themes, where even sleeping leaves seemed to stir, restless in their own patient way.
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