.".'I MdliniOLOGY OF STK.MS. 



to :mtlii>t:i\y or inllorescence (Cli;i[). V.), which has its own 

 terminology. But sonic >!' its term- may be conveniently 

 employed in the description of ramification unconnected with* 

 flowering. 



'& 



2. FOI:M- OF STEMS AND BKA.NCIIES. 



89. On the sixe :md duration of the stem the oldest and most 

 obvious division of plants is founded, namely, into JlerK-. 

 Shrubs. ;md Trees. 



!HI. Herbs :uv plants in which the stem does not become 

 woody and per-i-teiit , but dies annually or alter flowering, down 

 to the ground at least. The dillereiice l>ct\veeii minimi. lii,- n n'ml . 

 and i>cri'iin!(il herbs has already been pointed out in the chapter 

 on the root (."()-.") 7 ) . and the gradations between them indicated. 

 Herbs pax into shrubs and shrubs into trees through every gra- 

 dation. The following delinitions are thcrelbre only general: 



!)1. I'lulershrubs, or Xi/Jfr/i/imsi- plants, are \voody plants of 

 hunilile stature, their stems rising little above the surface. If 

 less decidedly woody, they are termed Sllffrutescent. 



'.)>. Shrubs are woody plants, with stems branched from or 

 near the ground, and less than live times the height of a man. 

 A shrub which approaches a tree in si/.e. or imitates it in aspect. 

 is said to In- Arborescent. 



!>.'!. Trees are woody plants with single trunks, which attain 

 at least four or five times the human stature. Yet the name of 

 tree is not to be denied to a woody plant having a >ingle and 

 stout trunk of less altitude ; and those which grow in a bushy 

 manner, sending up a cluster of stems from the ground to the 

 height of thirty feet or more, may -till lie called shrubs. 



'.i|. The erect position, elevation above the soil, and self-sup- 

 port, are normal conditions of the stem, but are far from universal. 

 And certain kinds of stem or branches are sulliciently peculiar 

 to have received substantive names : other equally peculiar forms 

 have no special names. There are, moreover, certain organs 

 (such as spines and tendrils) which are commonly homologous 

 (!_') with stems, but not always. Two kinds of erect stems 

 have special names in descriptive botany. 



It."). Culm is a name applied to the peculiar closed-jointed stem 

 of Grasses and Sedges, whether herbaceous, as in most (irasses, 

 or woody or arborescent, as in the Bamboo. 



96. CauuYx is the name technically applied to the trunk of 

 Palms (Fig. 1-M'>). Tree-Ferns, and the like, consisting of a 

 commonly simple column, the surface beset with scales, the 





