RAMIFICATION OR BRANCHING.—SYMPODIUM. 109 
of similar parts. Thus the divisions of a stem or root are 
branches ; but the lateral development from a stem or branch of 
leaves, or other dissimilar parts, such as hairs, is not branching. 
There are two principal types of branching, the monopodial 
and the dichotomous. Thus, when the axis continues to develop 
in an upward direction by a terminal bud or growing point, so 
as to form a common foot or podiwm for the branches, which 
are produced from below upwards, or acropetally from lateral 
buds ( fig. 205, a, a), the branchingis called monopodial. This is, 
probably, the universal system of branching in the Angiospermia, 
although there ere some apparent exceptions. But when the 
terminal bud or growing point bifurcates, and thus produces 
Hie. 215. Fig. 216. 
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rw T 
PYLE 2 
A 
Fig. 215. Diagram of normal or true dichotomous branching, showing the 
two branches equally developed in a forked manner, and each branch di- 
viding in succession in a similar way.— ig. 216. Diagrams of sympodial 
dichotomous branching. A. Bostrycoid or Helicoid dichotomy. B, 
Cicinal or Scorpioid dichotomy. In A, the left-hand branches, J, J, J, of 
successive dichotomies are much more developed than the right, 7, 7, 7, 7, 
In B, the left-hand branches, 7, 7, and those of the right-hand, 7, 7, are 
alternately more vigorous in their growth. After Sachs, 
two shoots, so that the foot or podium bears two branches 
arranged in a forked manner (jig. 215), the branching is termed 
dichotomous. This form is common in many of the Cryptogamia 
(fig. 204). 
In dichotomous branching we have also two forms: one 
which is termed true or normal dichotomy, in which the two 
branches continue to develop equally in a forked manner—that 
is, each becomes the podium of a new dichotomy (jig. 215) ; and 
a second, in which one branch grows much more vigorously than 
the other, when it is called sympodial (fig. 216, A and B). In 
this latter case, owing to the unequal growth of the branches, 
the podia of successive bifurcations form an axis which is termed 
the pseud-axis or sympodium, on which the weaker fork-branches 
or bifurcations appear as lateral branches (fig. 216, A, r, r, r,r, 
and B, r, l, r, J, r). This branching might at first sight be 
confounded with the monopodial form, where we have a con- 
tinuous axis giving off lateral branches ; but it differs in the 
