BRANCHES. 115 



Dandelion and many of the Violets, furnish us with ex- 

 amples. The latter being allied to other species, that 

 are furnished with stems are said from occasional lux- 

 uriance, to assume the character of their allies, but the 

 former remains stemless in every situation. 



Stems are usually garnished with leaves, and termed 

 leafy ; and occasionally beset with scales, and termed 

 scaly, Fig. 21 ; but in a few instances, having neither 

 leaves nor scales, they are said to be naked, as in Dod- 

 der and Glasswort. In the latter case the succulent 

 stem supplies the place of leaves ; in the former the 

 living vegetable to which it clings, furnishes the para- 

 site with food, already prepared for its own nourish- 

 ment. 



The student who examines these forms, will not fail 

 to observe the various sizes of stems, some being slen- 

 der and uniesisting, others large and powerful. He 

 will notice without the aid of botany, the magnitude of 

 the Oak, the majestic form of the Elm, and the towering 

 height of the Tulip tree, and as he compares them with 

 those humble herbs that scarcely raise themselves a- 

 bove the surface of the ground, he will see how man- 

 nifold are the productions, which he is to examine. 

 But in southern latitudes, we find trees more majestic 

 than the Elm, and more lofty than the Tulip tree j for 

 there, vegetation is more rapid, and new organs are de- 

 veloped without interruption. 



The Adansonia which grows on the banks of the 

 Senegal in Africa, is said to be thirty feet in diameter, 

 and to require a chain six rods in length to enclose it. 

 — Its branches spread sixty feet in every direction, 

 and when excavated by old age and decay, its hollow 

 trunk becomes the abode of several families. 



A still more singular stem is presented by the Rhi- 



