Abstract
PLANTS build up a large variety of organic substances. The aromatic compounds of plants include several anthracene derivatives, such as the principles of madder and of senna, but scarcely any naphthalene compounds are known: vitamin K is one of these. Most of the organic constituents of plants are formed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and occasionally phosphorus, sulphur and selenium. No organic halogen compounds have been found in the higher plants ; there is no sound evidence that iodine or bromine is necessary for plants, nor is chlorine apparently essential.
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NICOL, H. WHAT THE PLANT DOES WITH ITS MATERIALS*. Nature 150, 13–15 (1942). https://doi.org/10.1038/150013a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/150013a0
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