VHI. THE STEM. 147 



' little rod ' not painfully earirfg about it, but being able 

 thus to define it with precision, if required. And these 

 are connected with the steins of branching shrubs through 

 infinite varieties of structure, in which the first steps of 

 transition are made by carrying the cluster of radical 

 leaves up, and letting them expire gradually from the ris- 

 ing stem : the changes of form in the leaves as they rise 

 higher from the ground being one of quite the most inter- 

 esting specific studies in every plant. I had set myself 

 once, in a bye-study for foreground drawing, hard on this 

 point ; and began, with Mr. Burgess, a complete analysis 

 of the foliation of annual stems ; of which Line-studies 

 II., III., and IV., are examples ; reduced copies, all, from 

 the beautiful Flora Danica. But after giving two whole 

 lovely long summer days, under the Giesbach, to the blue 

 scabious, (' Devil's bit,') and getting in that time, only 

 half-way up it, I gave in; and must leave the work to 

 happier and younger souls. 



25. For these flowering stems, therefore, possessing 

 nearly all the complex organization of a tree, but not its 

 permanence, we will keep the word ' virga ; ' and ' virgula' 

 for those that have no leaves. I believe, when we come 

 to the study of leaf-order, it will be best to begin with 

 these annual virgae, in which the leaf has nothing to do 

 with preparation for a next year's branch. And now 

 the remaining terms commonly applied to stems may be 

 for the most part dispensed with ; but several are interest- 

 ing, and must be examined before dismissal. 





