STEMS 81 
or the rattan of Indian jungles, reach a length of many 
hundred feet. On the other hand, in such “stemless” 
plants as the primrose and the dandelion, the stem may be 
reduced to a fraction of an inch in length. It may take 
Fic. 51.— Stem of “Smilax” (Myrsiphyllum). 
l, seale-like leaves; c/, cladophyll, or leaf-like branch, growing in the axil of the 
leaf ; ped, flower-stalk, growing in the axil of a leaf. 
on apparently root-like forms, as in many grasses and 
sedges, or become thickened by underground deposits of 
starch and other plant-food, as in the iris, the potato, and 
the crocus. Condensed forms of stem may exist above 
ground, or, on the other hand, branches may be flat and 
