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CHAPTER XIIL 



DIFFERENT KINDS OF STEMS AND STALKS OF PLANTS. 



Linnaeus enumerates seven kinds of Trunks, Stemsj 

 or Stalks of Vegetables. These are necessary to be 

 known, for botanical distinctions, though some are more 

 important than others, both in that respect and in a 

 physiological point of view. 



1. Caul IS. A Stem properly so called, which bears 

 or elevates from the root, the leaves as well as flowers. 

 The trunks and branches of all trees and shrubs come 

 under this denomination, as well as of a great pro- 

 portion of herbaceous plants, especially annuals. 



The Stem is either simple, as in the White Lily, or 

 branched, as in most instances. When it is regular- 

 ly and repeatedly divided, and a flower springs from 

 each division, it is called caulis dichotomus, f. 17, a 

 forked stem, as in Chlora perfoliata^ Bot. t. 60, as 

 well as the common Mouse-ear Chick weeds, (18) Ce- 

 rasthim vulgatum, t. 789, and viscosum., t. 790. 



Though generally leafy, a stem may be partially 

 naked, or even entirely so in plants destitute of leaves 

 altogether as the Creeping Cereus, Cactus jiagellifor- 

 mis^ Curt. Mag. t. 17, various exotic species of 

 Euphorbia or Spurge, and the whole genus oi Stapelia, 

 In Orobanche, it is scaly, yi 18, squamosum. 



(18) [Native.] 



