42 PRACTICAL BOTANY. 



Culm : tbe straw of tlie sedges and tlie grasses, usually jointed, often 

 liollow, and rarely becoming woody. 



(Plants are called caulescent, wben they Lave branching stems. 

 Scape-bearing plants are said to be acaulescent, although they have 

 some sort of underground stem). 



Particular INames of Stems and Branches, chiefly 

 derived from their direction. 



84. Stems bear different names in view of their direc- 

 tion and their simplicity or complexity. They are : 



a. With regard to their direction and regular or ir- 

 regtdar groioth. 



Erect : rising vertically from the ground ; ascending : 

 first bending, after having started from the ground, and 

 then rising vertically ; procumbent : prostrate or trailing, 

 growing along the ground without rooting ; decuvibent : 

 reclining on the ground, after having at the base risen 

 somewliat above it ; repent : creeping upon the ground 

 and rooting ; cernuous : bent over ; nutant : having the 

 top bent downward; geniculate: kneed, ascending by 

 forming angles; nodose or Tcnottij : furnished with hard, 

 intumescences here and there (stems of grasses) ; articu- 

 lated or jointed : provided with soft, intumescences, and, 

 therefore, fragile at the joints ; scandent or climbing : ris- 

 ing by laying hold, in some way, of other objects (as the 

 stem of the grape) ; voluble or twining : winding spirally 

 around a support (hop, bindweeds, etc.) ; radicant or root- 

 ing : climbing on other objects and striking root in them 

 (as the stem of ivy). 



b. With regard to the production of branches. 



Most simple or simple : without branches, or nearly so ; 

 ramose : branching ; furcate : forked ; dichotomous : re- 

 peatedly furcate ; trichotomous : divided into three 

 branches. 



