42 



MORPHOLOGY OF STEMS AND BRANCHES. [LESSON 6. 



the joints (i. e. the internodes, or spaces between each leaf) being 

 very short. As the leaves die, year by year, and decay, a scar 

 left in the form of a ring marks the place where each leaf was 

 attached. Instead of leaves, rootstocks buried under ground com- 

 monly bear scales, like those of the Mint (Fig. 64), which are im- 

 perfect leaves. 



101. Some rootstocks are marked with large round scars of a 

 different sort, like those of the Solomon's Seal (Fig. 66), which gave 

 this name to the plant, from their looking something like the impres- 

 sion of a seal upon wax. Here the rootstock sends up every spring 

 an herbaceous stalk or stem, which bears the foliage and flowers, 

 and dies in autumn ; and the seal is the circular scar left by the 

 death and separation of the dead stalk from the living rootstock. 

 As but one of these is formed each year, they mark the limits of a 

 year's growth. The bud at the end of the rootstock in the figure, 

 which was taken in summer, will grow the next spring into the stalk 

 of the season, which, dying in autumn, will leave a similar scar, while 

 another bud will be formed farther on, crowning the ever-advancing 

 summit or growing end of the stem. 



102. As each year's growth of stem, in all 

 these cases, makes its own roots, it soon becomes 

 independent of the older parts. And after a 

 certain age, a portion dies off behind, every 

 year, about as fast as it increases at the grow- 

 ing end ; death following life with equal and 

 certain step, with only a narrow interval be- 

 tween. In vigorous plants of Solomon's Seal 

 or Iris, the living rootstock is several inches or 

 a foot in length ; while in the short rootstock of 



67 



FIG. 6(5. Rootstock of Solomon's Seal, with tho bottom of the stalk of the season, and the 

 bud for tho next year's pnnvth. 

 FIG. 67. The very short rootstock and bud of a Trillium or Birthroot. 



