108 NOMENCLATURE OF THE APPENDAGES. 



most common form is that of a jointed thread, generally 

 too flexible to support itself. 



According to the degree of firmness peculiar to hairs, their quan- 

 tity, and the mode of their application to the surface of stems and 

 leaves, are derived the characteristic names of hairy, woolly, shaggy, 

 silky, glandule-ciliated, &c. already mentioned in speaking of the 

 surface of stems and leaves. 



32. Compound : When they consist of more than one 

 piece. The most common varieties of this kind, are the 

 feathery, the branched, and the star-like. 



n. Feathery- a simple hair with other hairs attached to it late- 

 rally, as in the wave-leaved hawk-weed. 



b. Branched that is, lateral hairs are given ofT from common 

 stalks, as on the petiole of the gooseberry leaf, or it consists of an erect 

 firm stem, from the summits of which, smaller hairs diverge in every 

 direction, as in the saw-leaved horehound. 



c. Star-like or stellated being composed of simple diverging 

 awl-shaped hairs, springing from a common centre, which is a small 

 knob sunk in the cutis, as on the leaves of marsh mallow. 



BRISTLE OR SETE. 



33. A bristle is a hollow, rigid, sharp-pointed pubes- 

 cence, which either wounds the finger when it is pressed 

 upon it, or gives a very harsh, scabrous, or prickly cha- 

 racter to the surface of the stem, or of the leaves when 

 the finger is rubbed over them. They are of two kinds, 

 the simple and the compound. 



34. Simple: When they consist but of one piece. 

 Simple bristles are either awl-shaped or spindle-shaped. 



a. Awl-shaped or subulate is the most common of the simple 

 bristles ; it is slightly curved, and gradually tapering from the base 

 to the apex, which is rigid and very sharp. The sting of the nettle, is 

 the best example of this form of bristle. 



