THE STEM AND BRANCHES. 1 79 



strawberry ; or creeping, like the cinquefoil ; or 

 rising into a spike, like the burnet and the agri- 

 mony. Yet others become scrambling bushes, 

 like the blackberry and the raspberry. In the 

 blackthorn and the hawthorn the bush has be- 

 come more erect and tree-like. Both types of 

 growth occur in the dog rose and many other 

 roses. The cherry attains the size and stature of 

 a small tree. The mountain-ash is bigger ; the 

 apple-tree bigger still ; while the pear often 

 grows to a considerable height and much spread- 

 ing dignity. These are all members of the rose 

 family. Here, therefore, every variety of shape 

 and size is well represented within the limits of a 

 single order. 



One w^ord must be given to the varieties of 

 the stem. Sometimes, as in the oak, the trunk is 

 much branched and intricate ; sometimes, as in 

 the date-palm, simple and unbranched, bearing 

 only a single tuft of circularly arranged leaves. 

 But the most interesting in this respect are the 

 climbing and twisting stems, which do not take 

 the trouble to support themselves, but lean for aid 

 upon the trunk of some stronger and more upright 

 neighbour. Stems of this sort are familiar to us 

 all in the hop and the bindweed. In other climb- 

 ers the stems do not twine to any great extent, 

 but the plants support themselves by root-like 

 processes, as in ivy, or by tendrils, as in the vine, 

 or by twisted leaf-stalks, as in the canary creeper. 

 Others cling by means of suckers, as the Ampelop- 

 sis Veitchii, or hang by opposite leaves, like clem- 

 atis, or cling by hooked hairs, as is the case with 

 cleavers. In certain instances, such creeping or 

 climbing plants tend to become parasitic — that is 

 to say, they fasten themselves by sucker-like 



