AN ENCYCLOPADIA 
OF HORTICULTURE. 495 
STELLARIA (from stella, a star; alluding to the 
flowers). Starwort; Stitch Grass; Stitchwort. In- 
cluding Larbrea, Malachiwm, Micropetalon, and Spergu- 
lastrum. ORD. Caryophyllee. A genus comprising 
about seventy species of usually diffuse herbs, broadly 
dispersed over the globe, seven being natives of Britain. 
Flowers white, small, in dichotomous cymes; sepals and 
petals five, rarely four; stamens ten, rarely eight, five, 
or three. Leaves narrow or broad. S. media is the 
common Chickweed. 8S. Holostea is one of our early 
hedge-flowers. The species thrive in ordinary soil, but 
have little value as garden plants. 
S. graminea aurea (golden grass-like). fi. white, many, }in. 
to Zin. in diameter; petals equalling the three-nerved sepals. 
‘May to August. l. very narrow, sessile, ciliate, pale golden- 
yellow. . Stem 1ft. to 3ft. long, sub-erect, four-angled. (The 
green-leaved type is found in Europe (Britain), Siberia, Western 
Aca to the Himalayas.) A perennial, sometimes used in carpet- 
edding. 
Fig. 530, Top oF PLANT OF STELLARIA HOLOSTEA. 
S. Holostea (Holostea). 3 p Å 
Moon Flower; Satin Flower, &c. f/i. white, żin. to fin. in 
diameter, on slender pedicels; petals twice as long as the almost 
nerveless sepals. April to June. J. sessile, connate, Janceo- 
late, lin. to 4in, long, acuminate, rigid, ciliated. Stem lft. to 
2ft. long, decumbent at base, brittle at the nodes, hairy above. 
Europe (Britain). Perennial. See Fig. 530. (Sy. En. B. 230.) 
STELLATE. Star-shaped. 
STELLERA (named in honour of G. W. Steller, 
1709-1746, a celebrated Russian botanical collector). 
ORD. Thymelwacee. A small genus (eight species have 
been described, but not more than six are really dis- 
tinct as such) of hardy, perennial herbs, sub-shrubs, or 
shrubs, natives of Central and Western Asia. Flowers 
hermaphrodite, sessile at the tips of the branches, capi- 
tate or densely spicate; perianth tube cylindrical, at 
length cut round above the ovary; lobes four, rarely 
five, spreading; stamens eight, rarely ten. Leaves alter- 
nate, flat. It is doubtful whether the under-mentioned 
Species are still cultivated. Both are perennial herbs, 
thriving in ordinary soil; they may be multiplied by 
divisions, 
S. altaica (Altai white ; lobes four; stamens eight ; head 
ovoid, vente Sess ora, at length elongated into an oblong, 
Adder’s Meat; Greater Stitchwort ; - 
Stellera—continued. 
leafless spike, about lin. long. July. J. lanceolate or oblong, 
slightly acute, about lin. long. Stems slender, many from the 
rhizome, erect or ascending. h. lft. Altai, 1824. 
S. Chamzejasme (ground Jessamine). fl. white; lobes five: 
stamens ten; head six to fifteen-flowered. June. l. lanceolate 
or oblong, slightly acute, five to ten lines long. Stems often 
numerous from a thick rhizome, slender. h. lft. Siberia, 1817. 
STEM. That part of a plant which supports the 
leaves and (in flowering plants) the flowers. It is always 
present in Vascular plants, though occasionally so ex- 
tremely ill-developed that the plants are called acaulescent 
or stemless; but, in such plants, the top of the so-called 
root is, in truth, the stem. In the Algæ, Fungi, and 
Lichens there is no real distinction into Stems and 
leaves, the two being replaced by the thallus. In most 
plants, the Stem usually rises upwards towards light, 
contains chlorophyl, is covered with true epidermis, 
with stomata, and bears leaves and buds at the nodes— 
standing in marked contrast, in all these points, to 
roots, though exceptions occur to all of the characters 
mentioned. Stems vary from şin. or less (Centunculus 
minimus) to 470ft. in height (Eucalyptus amygdalina), 
and from extreme slenderness (e.g., in Radiola mille- 
grana) to the enormous trunks of the Sequoias in 
Western America, whose girth is many yards. 
It would occupy too much space to enter into details 
of the wide differences in habit met with in Stems, 
due to variation in thickness, branching (whether with 
or without a main stem), direction, and many other 
characters. A reference to the figures under such head- 
ings as Agave, Cactus, Coreopsis, Fragaria, 
Hedera, Palme, Pinus, &c., will give a better idea 
of these differences than any brief description could. 
Internal structure of Stems also varies greatly; but 
there are two well-marked types in woody Stems, after 
the first year of growth. The one is characteristic of Di- 
cotyledons and Conifers, and the other of Monocotyledons. 
In the former, there is the appearance, in cross-section, 
of as many rings of wood as the Stem is years old, due 
to the wood formed in autumn being closer in texture 
than that of spring, and therefore differing from it in 
appearance. There is also a well-marked bark, sepa- 
rated from the wood by a well-developed cambium, or 
layer, where growth in thickness is effected. In most 
Dicotyledons there is also pith in the centre of the 
Stem, and lines of cellular tissue, named medullary 
rays, run towards the circumference from the girth, and 
cut the wood into wedge-shaped masses. In the Mono- 
cotyledons, on the contrary, the Stems, in transverse 
section, show no appearance of layers, the bundles of 
woody fibres lying imbedded amongst cellular tissue, in 
which no separation into pith and bark is observable. 
In these Stems there are no annual rings, no medullary 
rays, no cambium, and no true bark; and the Stem, 
after it is once formed, does not increase in thickness, 
but only in length. | 
Certain forms of Stems have received special names, 
of which the following are among the more important: 
Caudex, applied to the columnar, erect Stems of Palms 
and Tree-ferns, marked with the bases of the leafstalks, 
or with their scars; Culm, the cylindrical, jointed Stems 
of Grasses and allied plants, which usually have hollow 
internodes; Seape, a leafless, erect stem, ending in a 
flower or group of flowers. Decumbent lateral stems, 
or branches, receive the following names: Runner, when 
slender, lying on the surface of the soil, and emitting 
roots at the nodes; Stolon, resembling a runner, but 
forming erect Stems from the terminal buds, which tend 
to form new plants; Offset, a short stolon; Sucker, an 
underground stolon. 
Stems are occasionally much modified to serve peculiar 
functions. Among the most remarkable of such modi- 
fications are Spines and Tendrils. The former are 
branches or main Stems that have remained short, but 
