76 THE STEM. ‘ 
b. In regard to duration, trees differ much, some attaining their growth in a few 
years and immediately decaying, while on the contrary, the ordinary age of trees 
is beyond the age of man, and some outlive many generations, as the oak, pine. * 
190. The suckER is 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 oFfFsET 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 (Sempervivum). 
192. A stroxon 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, in originating above the ground and not 
below it. 
FIG. 24.— Forms of the stem ; 1, Fragaria; 2, Vitis ; 5, tendrils ; 3, cirrhose leaf of Pisum ; 
4, Pyrola; 5, sucker. 
193. A plurality of stems, or trunks, is observed in a few spe- 
cies of trees growing in tropical regions. The Banyan (Ficus 
*Tt 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 the 
great chestnut on Mt. Etna, 2600 years. It is also supposed that there are yet living, in the 
“ garden of Gethsemane,” some of the olives which witnessed our Saviour’s passion; and 
at Terni, Italy, is an olive plantation supposed to have existed since the age of Pliny. 
