=Appropriation of the Carbon.=—_The carbon dioxide of the air readily diffuses itself into the leaves and other green parts of the plant._ The leaf is delicate in texture, and when very young the air can diffuse directly into the tissues. The stomates, however, are the special inlets adapted for the admission of gases into the leaves and other green parts. Through these stomates, or diffusion-pores, the outside air enters into the air-spaces of the plant, and is finally absorbed by the little cells containing the living matter. =Chlorophyll= (“leaf green”) is the agent that secures the energy by means of which carbon dioxide is utilized. This material is contained in the leaf cells in the form of grains (p. 86); the grains themselves are protoplasm, only the colouring 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 colouring 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 coloured leaves as coleus, have chlorophyll, but it is masked by other colouring matter. This other colouring matter is usually soluble in hot water: boil a coleus leaf and notice that it becomes green and the water becomes coloured. _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 a 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 favours 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 dioxide diffuses into the leaf; during sunlight it is used, and oxygen is given off._ How the carbon dioxide which is thus absorbed may be used in making an organic food is a complex question, and need not be studied here; but it may be stated that carbon dioxide and water are the constituents. Complex compounds are built up out of simpler ones.