BREEDING 



197 



just on the intermediate step between the two. Their 

 short-jointed, thick stems bear from eight to twelve 

 leaves, at the axil of which a bud develops, which seldom 

 becomes abortive, and mostly develops either into a 

 branch similar to the main stem or into a runner, or 

 into a flower stem, these appendages being, in a manner, 

 equivalent and, so to speak, interchangeable with one 

 another. 



"The runner, at first sight, appears as different as 

 possible from the ordinary leaf-bearing stem ; it becomes 

 very plain, however, upon closer inspection, that it is 

 merely an elongated branch, dissimilar to the original 

 one simply in the great length of the internodes and in 

 the diminutive size of the leaves, which are mostly re- 

 duced to mere bracts. But the runners show their identity 

 with the normal branches in produc- 

 ing from their knots exactly the 

 same appendages as the primitive 

 stems do, viz. : regular stems, run- 

 ners, and even flower stems ; and in 

 bearing, also, abortive axillary buds 

 occasionally." 



The very short stem of the culti- 

 vated strawberry is a form of 

 rhizome. It develops largely under- 

 ground and roots at the nodes. As 

 the plant grows older, the stem 

 elongates or divides : New roots 

 form each year above the old ones, 

 which die at the close of the season ; 

 hence, the plant becomes more shal- 

 low-rooted each year. Eventually, the plant pushes itself 

 out of the ground. Unless new soil is drawn over the 



Fig. 19. — 

 root stalk of 

 plant. 



The long 

 I very old 



