OP STEMS. 113 



Plants destitute of a stem are called acaules, stemlesS;, 

 as Neottia ccatilis, Exot. Bot. t. 105, and Carduus 

 acaulis, Engl. Bot. t. 161. Such plants, when they be- 

 long to a genus or family generally furnished .with 

 stems, as in these instances and Carlina acaulis, Camer. 

 Epit. 428, are liable from occasional luxuriance to ac- 

 quire some degree of stem, but seldom otherwise. Pin- 

 guiciila^ Engl. Bot. t. 70 and 145, is a genus invariably 

 stemless, while Primula, t. 4, 5, 6 and 513, is much less 

 truly so. The term acaulis however must never be too 

 rigidly understood, for logical precision is rarely appli^ 

 cable to natural productions, 



Caiilis fascicidattts, a clustered stemj is a disease or 

 accident, in which several branches or stems are 

 united longitudinally into a flat broad figure, 

 crowded with leaves or flowers at the extremity., 

 It occurs in the Ash, several species of Daphne^ 

 Ranunculus, Antirrhinum, &:c. In a kind o^Pisum, 

 called the Top-knot Pea, it is a permanent variety 

 propagated by seed. 

 2. CuLMus. A Straw or Culm, is the peculiar Stem 

 of the Grasses, Rushes, and plants nearly allied to 

 them. It bears both leaves and flowers, and its na- 

 ture is more easily understood than defined. Many 

 botanists have thought this term superfluous. 

 The Culm is occasionally 



Enoclis, without joints, as in our common Rushes^ 

 Juncus conglomeratus, Engl. Bot. t. 835, and effu- 

 sus, t. 836 ; (34) 



(34) [Bulrush in the New England states. This name is al- 

 so applied to Scirfms lacustris, a much larger plant.] 

 P 



