76 um: «tem. 



b. In regard to dm-atioti^4rees differ much, some attaining tlieir growth in a few 

 yeaj-s and immediately decaying, while on the contraiy, the ordinary age of trees 

 is beyond the age of man, and some outlive many generations, as the oak, pine^^ 



190. The sucKER/fs a branch proceeding from the stem, or 

 root, beneath the surface, producing leaves, &c., and throwing 

 out roots from its own base, becoming an independent plant. 

 Ex. rose, raspberry. 



191. An OFFSET ('is a short, lateral branch, terminated by a 

 cluster of leaves, and capable of taking root when separated 

 from the parent plant. Ex. house-leek; ( Sempei-vivum). 



192. A STOLON 'Is a branch which proceeds from an elevated 

 part of the stem, and afterwards, descending to the earth, takes 

 root, sends up new shoots, and finally becomes a new plant. It 

 differs from the sucker, ill originating above the ground and not 

 below it. : 



FIG. 24. — Forms of the stem ; 1, Fragaria ; 2, Vitis ; ft, tendrils ; 3, cirrhose leaf of Pisum; 

 4, Pyrola; 5, sucker. 



193. A 2^hiraUttj of stems, or tranks/'is observed in a few spe- 

 cies of trees grooving in tropical regions. The Banyan {Ficus 



* It is recorded that a live oak, in Louisiana, lived 1000 years ; a sycamore in Palestine, 

 1050 years ; a pine in Asia Minor, 1800 years ; a cedar on Mt. Lebanon, 2120 years, and tho 

 great chestnut on Wt. Etna, 2000 years. It is also supposed that there are yet living, in the 

 " garden of Gethsemane," some of the olives which wimessed our Saviour's passion ; and 

 at Terni, Italy, is an olive plantation supposed to have existed since the age of Pliny. 



