24 STEM. 



Georgia and Carolina, the grape vines are a foot in diametei 

 and that they climb to the very tops of the tallest trees, and 

 then running from one tree to another, as it were, bind the 

 whole forest together. 



In the forest of Surinam, according to the traveller, Stead- 

 man, there is a singular climbing plant called the nebee, or 

 ligneous rope. The stems of this plant not only twine around 

 the trees to their tops, but when arrived there, they often run 

 down again until they reach the earth, where throwing out 

 several roots, they run up the next, and so spread from one 

 tree to another, to a great extent. Sometimes these stems 

 twine around each other, and as they are often to a consider- 

 able distance barren of leaves, they form ropes of the 

 thickness of a ship's cable, which they very nearly resemble. 

 These ropes are said to be exceedingly strong, so that they 

 are employed for mooring ships to the shore, instead of 

 hemp cables. 



CULM, or STRAW, (Culmus.) The Culm is the stem of 

 the grasses, rushes, and other plants which most resemble 

 hem, as the Cat's-tail, and Bamboo. It bears both leaves 

 and flowers, and is often hollow, and seldom branched. 



The Culm is distinguished into several kinds, which are 

 thus described. 



Jointed or articulated Culm, Fig. 20. It is f:| Fiff ' 2a 

 divided from space to space, by knots, or joints, 

 as in the straw of the Oat, Wheat, and Bamboo. 

 Among the jointed stems, perhaps that of the 

 Bamboo is the most interesting and beautiful, 

 and so far as the Culm itself is concerned, cer- 

 tainly the most useful. This plant, which is a 

 native of warm climates, grows to the height of 

 forty feet, or more, though scarcely more than 

 three inches in diameter at the base. The 

 graceful waving of a forest of such elastic rods, 

 during a breeze, is said to present to the eye of 

 the foreign traveller a spectacle of great novelty and interest. 

 The culm is straight, round, tough, simple, and highly pol- 

 ished by nature. There are, perhaps, few plants which serve 

 for such variety of purposes as this. In the East Indies great 



What is a culm ? W T hat are familiar examples of the jointed culm ? 

 What is said to be the most interesting and useful among the jointed 

 julms ? 



