56 



THE STEM 



82. So-called stemless plants. At the opposite end 

 of the scale from the plants with tall stems, rising as high 

 as possible toward the sources of light, are those that, like 

 the Dandelion (Fig. 42), reduce the leaf-bearing axis to 

 the shortest possible span. Owing to the extreme brevity 

 of the stem, and perhaps as well to the difficulty of 



42. Root, shortened stem, buds, and leaves, of the Dandelion. 



distinguishing the stem portion from the taproot, these 

 plants are sometimes spoken of as stemless. A better term 

 is acaulescent (which literally means becoming stemless). 

 The summit of the stem in the Dandelion is at the 

 level of the ground, or slightly lower. 1 Crowded together 

 by the shortening of the internodes, the leaves radiate in 



1 The roots of some plants, after gaining a firm hold on the earth, con- 

 tract and gradually draw the stem into the soil. 



