THE STEM. 



The young stem of a grass when cut across will be found 

 to contain numerous threads (fibro-vascular bundles] scattered 

 from the center to the circumference. An epidermis covers the 

 whole. In many instances,, as the stem enlarges, the inside is 

 ruptured and a hollow is formed. 



Neither roots nor leaves could last long without each other. 



The slender branches of the 

 panicles of Sporobolus hetero- 

 lepis, a grass common on the 

 prairies of the west, are cov- 

 ered in places with a gummy 

 excretion which entraps small 

 insects. Dr. Bessey in the 

 American Katuralist, p. 420, 

 1884, suggests that they may 

 serve the same purpose as the 

 similar sticky belts in Silene 

 or catch-fly, viz. : to entrap 

 crawling insects and prevent 

 them from reaching the flow- 

 ers which they are incapable 

 of fertilizing. 



The naked portions of the 

 internodes of Tragus race- 

 mosus var. occidentalis, a wild 

 grass of Arizona, are furnished 

 with a sticky substance. The 

 specimens examined are- cov- 

 ered with many particles of 

 sand and dust. 



The main uses of the stem 

 appear to be to convey the sap 

 to or from the leaves, to sup- 

 Fro. 6. Represents a young stem of Festuca ~.-.._+ fi,a lpo V p<5 nnrl 

 as it branches at the base. (Hackel.) P ort tne leaves ana 



