26 PART I. MORPHOLOGY. 



Shoots may grow erect into the air; or they may grow horizontally 

 either above or below the surface of the soil. 



A shoot which grows horizontally on the surface of the soil is terme 

 creeping shoot (Fig. 13 E). 



The Runner or Stolon is allied to the creeping shoot. It is an elongated 

 lateral shoot which takes root at some distance from the parent plant, and 

 which by the dying away of the intermediate portion, becomes a new indi- 

 vidual. The runner may grow either just above (Fig. 13 D), or just below 

 the surface of the soil ; it bears sometimes scaly leaves, sometimes foliage- 

 leaves (e.,j. Hieracium Pilosella). Banners usually spring from shoots 



with limited 

 growth, but 

 s o me times 

 from those 

 with unlimit- 

 ed growth, e.g. 

 Struthiopteris. 

 When a 

 shoot grows 

 horizontally 

 beneath the 

 soil, it is 

 termed a Rhi- 

 zome. It is 

 characteristic 

 of those plants 

 the subterran- 

 ean parts of 

 which alone 

 are persistent. 

 The growth in 

 length of the 

 rhizome is 

 sometimes un- 

 limited, some- 

 times limited. 

 When the 

 former is the 

 case, it con- 

 tinues to elon- 

 gate at its 

 apex, and 



bears either only foliage-leaves (e.g. Pteris aquilina)] or foliage-leaves 

 and scales in regular alternation (Fig. 14 A, I, w), in the axils of which 

 annual shoots arise ; or only scales in the axils of which annual shoots 

 bearing foliage-leaves and flowers arise, as in Herb Paris. More com- 

 monly, the growth in length is limited, in which case the apex grows out 

 into an aerial annual shoot, whilst from the axil of a leaf at its base one 



Fio. 16. -A Part of the shoot of the Vine ( nat. size) with two 

 tendrils r r ; the upper one bears small leaves ?i and branches ; the 

 lower one has become attached to a support x and has rolled up 

 spirally ; b h petioles ; in this case the tendrils are branches which 

 are peculiar in that they are opposite to the leaves. B Twining 

 Bhoot of Ipomoea s, with leaves b and a bud fc; x is the support. 



