282 CONSERVATIVE ORGANS. [LECT. VI. 



ways herbaceous; ,and is found either simple, 

 and bearing one flower only, as in common Dan- 

 delion, Leontodon taraxacum; or divided, and 

 many-flowered, as in Cowslip, Primula veris. 



5. STIPE (Stipes) is the term used to express 

 the stem of Palms, Ferns, Fuci, and Fungi. It 

 is generally cylindrical ; but sometimes swollen 

 in the middle, and bears a frond, or the foliage 

 which is peculiar to it, at its summit. In the 

 Palms the stipe is in general a simple column 

 bearing a spreading plume of leaves ; and of the 

 same diameter at the summit as at the base, ex- 

 cept in a very few genera *, which throw out 

 branches. It is marked at regular distances by 

 the cicatrices of the fallen leaves ; and increases 

 in height by additions made to its summit by the 

 development of a central gem, which throws out 

 annually a new circle of leaves. In the Ferns it 

 varies considerably in form, being round, chan- 

 nelled, triangular, and quadrangular ; and is 

 either devoid of vestiture, or is chaffy, scaly, spiny, 

 or muricated, that is, covered with sharp hard 

 tubercles : and the same diversities occur in the 

 stipes of the Fuci. In the Fungi it is generally 

 fleshy or leathery ; but it varies both in substance 

 and form ; and although, in the greater number 

 of instances, it is affixed to the centre of the cap, 



* Draccena, &c. 



