92 GLIMPSES IXTO PLANT-LIFE 



medicine are produced b}- foreign trees of ^'arious 

 kinds. The interior pith of a West Indian palm 

 tree produces the sago of commerce. 



Stems, hke every other part of a plant, are to be 

 seen in endless \"ariety ^\"he^ ue come to examine 

 them for ourselves. In common garden plants 

 such as the calceolaria and petunia, the consistence 

 is soft, and such stems are known as herbaceous; 

 these generally die down in autumn. Roses and 

 rhododendrons have stems of a harder and more 

 rigid character, and seem to be intermediate be- 

 tween the soft herbaceous stems and tall tree trunks. 



If in some country ramble we resolve to make 

 the trunks and bark of trees our study, we shall 

 find much that is interesting and well worthy of 

 obser\ ation.' 



The Lombard}' poplar, w ith its tall bending stem, 

 the graceful willow and the siher birch, contrast 

 strongi)- with the thick and sturd\' trunks of the 

 elm and oak. E\en these two differ, the wocnl of 



' Fur inslanje, I have nuliccd sonic curiuu.s cxamplt.s of trees 

 growing together. .V Turl^e)' oak and Silver fir in my own grounds 

 arc closely united at the Imse. llie fir-seed and the acorn must 

 have germinated in such close proximity that the stems have almost 

 grown into each other. The group of beeches shown in the plate 

 gives another example of interlacing stems and roots. 



