VIH. THE STEM. 135 



in the very moment I wanted it,) that it holds the bud 

 of the new stem in its own hollow, but cannot itself grow 

 in the hollow of anything else ; or, in botanical lan- 

 guage, leaves are never axillary, don't grow in armpits, 

 but are themselves armpits ; hollows, that is to say, where 

 they spring from the main stem. 



10. Now there is already a received and useful botani- 

 cal word, 'cyme' (which we shall want in a little while,) 

 derived from the Greek /CV/JLO,, a swelling or rising wave, 

 and used to express a swelling cluster of foamy blossom. 

 Connected with that word, but in a sort the reverse of it, 

 you have the Greek ' /cv/jL^rj^ the hollow of a cup, or 

 bowl ; whence Ki>nfta\ov, a cymbal, that is to say, a 

 musical instrument owing its tone to its hottowness. 

 These words become in Latin, cymba, and cymbalurn; 

 and I think you will find it entirely convenient and ad- 

 vantageous to call the leaf -stalk distinctively the ' cymba,' 

 retaining the mingled idea of cup and boat, with respect 

 at least to the part of it that holds the bud ; and under- 

 standing that it gathers itself into a V-shaped, or even 

 narrowly vertical, section, as a boat narrows to its bow, 

 for strength to sustain the leaf. 



With this word you may learn the Virgilian line, that 

 shows the final use of iron or iron-darkened ships : 



" Et ferruginea subvectat corpora cymba." 



The " subvectat corpora " will serve to remind you of the 

 office of the leafy cymba in carrying the bud ; and mako 



