90 



CHAPTER XIII. 



DIFFERENT KINDS OF STEMS AND STALKS OF 

 PLANTS. 



liiNNiCUS enumerates seven kinds of Trunks, Stems, 

 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. Caulis. a Stem properly so called, which bears, 

 or elevates from the root, the leaves as w-ell as 

 flowers. The trunks and branches of all trees and 

 shrubs come under this denomination, as well as of 

 a great proportion of herbaceous plants, especially 

 annuals. 



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

 or branched, as in most instances. When it is regu- 

 larly and repeatedly divided, and a flower springs 

 from each division, it is called caulis dlchotomuSy 

 f. 17, a forked stem, as in Chlora perfoliata, Engl, 

 Bot. t. ()(),aswell as the common Mouse-ear Chick- 

 weeds, Ccrastium vulgatum, t. 789, and niscosuniy 

 t, 790. 



Though generally leafy, a Stem may be partially 

 naked, or even entirely so in plants destitute of 



