ELEMENTARY BOTANY 



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; . decumbent or ascending, when they spread horizontally, or nearly so, at the base, 



and then turn upwards and become erect. i. ^* ■ 



procumle7it, when they spread along the ground the whole or the greater portion 

 of their length ; diffuse, when at the same time very much and rather loosely branched. 

 y:' prostrate, when they lie still closer to the ground. 



creeping, when they emit roots at their nodes. This term is also frequently 

 applied to any rhizomes or roots which spread horizontally. 



/; tufted or ccespitose, when very short, close, and many together from the same 

 stock. . 



29. Weak climbing stems are said to twine, when they support themselves by 

 winding spirally round any object ; such stems are also called voluble. When they 

 simply climb without twining, they support themselves by their leaves, or by spe- 

 cial clasping organs called tendrils (169), or sometimes, like the Ivy, by small root- 

 like excrescences. ' 



30. Suckers are young plants formed at the end of creeping, underground root- 

 shocks. Scions, runners, and stolojts, or stoles, are pames given to young plants t^rm^a 

 at the end or at the nodes (31) of branches or stocks creeping wholly or partially 



' aboveground, or sometimes to the creeping stocks themselves. 

 K 31. A node is a point of the stem or its branches at which one or more leaves, 

 branches, or leaf -buds (16) are given off. An internode is the portion ot ttie stem 

 comprised between two nodes. 

 32. Branches or leaves are 



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. *;. opposite, when two proceed from tlie same node on opposite sides of the stem. 

 i whorled or vertidUate (in a whorl or verticcl), when several proceed troni tne 

 same node, arranged regularly round the stem ; geminate, ternate, fascicled, or J asci- 

 cdate when two, three, or more proceed from the same node on the same si^^e oi 

 the stem. A tuft of fascicidate leaves is usually in fact a leafy branch, so snort 

 that the leaves appear to proceed all from the same point. 



• '^^' alternate, when oue only proceeds from each node, one on one side and tne nexc 

 above or below, though usually not in the same vertical line. . • 



- decussate, when opposite, but each pair placed at right-angles *« t^^."f J Pair 

 above or below it ; distichous, when regularly arranged one above another "^ t\vo op- 

 lK)site rows, one on each side of the stem ; tristichous, when in three rows, etc. w^;. 



,, I scattered, when irregularly arranged round the stem; frequently, nowe^tr, 

 botanists apply the teTxn alternate to all branches or leaves that are neither oppo- 

 site nor whorled. 



'. »ecund, when all start from or are turned to one side of the stem. , 



.^ 33. Branches are dichotomous, when several times forked, the two branches oi 

 each fork being nearly equal; trichotomous, when there are t^^'-«\°ff;^LeS 

 .^ranches at eac'h division instead of two ; but when the middle branch is e^ ident y 

 tte principal one, the stem is usually said to have two oPl'^site branches mfieftofe 

 j;hen divided in the same manner into several "e^^ly equal branches pi oceeding 

 from the same point. If however th e central branch is larger than the t^o or more 

 lateral ones, the stem is said to have opposite or whorled branches, as tj^e ^ase may be. 

 34. A culm is a name sometim" ---"" *" ^'^ °*'^'" "^ Ora^sses. Sedges, and some 

 other Monocotyledonous plants. 



§ 5. The Leaves. 



The 



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^J- ine ordinary or perfect Leaf consists of a flat Uade or lamina, f "f J^f ^; 

 aad more or less horizontal, attached to the stem by a stalk called * ^^ly ^he 

 C • 1. ^^^"^ t^« for«i «^ dimensions of a leaf are spoken of, it is generaUy tne 

 Tf that is meant, without the petiole or stalk. , jg 



.36 The end by which a leaf, aV^rt of the flower, a seed, or ^^J ot^'er org^m is 

 attached to the stem or other organ, is called its base, the opi>osite end is its apex 

 . "37°?"*' ^^<=epting sometimes in the case of anther-ceUs (n&)- 



««»iVwhen the blade rests on the stem without the inter>^ntion^of ^ 

 V, .«™{'f icaui or 8tem-clasi>ing, wten the sessile base of the blade clasps the stem 



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