VAKIETT OF STEMS. 



9 



a procumbent stem takes root at every joint, and sets up outposts, as 

 in the strawberry, it is called "creeping." (Fig. 6.) The stems of 

 the honeysuckle, the hop, the scarlet bean, and many others, being 

 too weak to stand upright, and more ambitious than the procumbent 

 kinds, lift themselves towards the sun by twining round and round 

 their stronger neighbours, or whatever slender column may be nearest. 



Fig. i. 



Fig. 5. 



some kinds turning to the right, and others to the left. (Fig. 5.) 

 The nasturtium, Virginian-creeper, ivy, fumitory, and many other 

 weak-stemmed plants, ascend by curious methods which quite remind 

 us of the contrivances of instinct. The variety in the degree of 

 branching may be illustrated by the stems of grasses, and those of 

 trees. The former kind have scarcely any branches, and, with all 



of similar nature, are called "simple;" while the latter, spreading 

 freely in all directions, are termed " compound." If very straggling 

 and irregular in its branches, the stem is called " diffuse ; " and if 

 repeatedly forked, like the mistletoe and the Radiola, " dichotomous." 

 Partly on the duration of the stem, and partly on that of the 

 root, depends the length of time a plant exists. There are three 



