40 



STEMS. 



[SECTION G. 



plants, simply by the dying nil' of the connecting under-ground stems, the 

 gardnur expedites the result by cutting them through with his spade. 

 That is, he propagates the plant " by divisiou." 



95. A Stolon is a branch from above ground, which reclines or becomes 

 prostrate and strikes root (usually from the nodes) wherever it rests on the 

 soil. Thence it may scud up a vigorous shoot, which has roots of its own, 

 and becomes an independent plant when the connecting part dies, as it 

 does after a while. The Currant and the Gooseberry naturally muUiply in 

 this way, as well as by suckers (which are the same thing, only the connect- 

 ing i)art is concealed under ground). Stolons must have suggested the 

 operation of layering by bending down and covering with soil branches 

 which do not naturally make stolons ; and after they have taken root, as 

 they almost always will, the gardener cuts through the conuectmg stem, 

 and so converts a rooting branch into a separate plant. 



96. An Offset is a short stolon, or sucker, with a crown of leaves at the 

 end, as in the Houseleek (Fig. 

 91), which propagates abundantly 

 in this way. 



97. A Runner, of which the 

 Strawberry presents the most fa- 

 mihar and characteristic example, 

 is a long and slender, tendril-like 

 stolon, or branch from next the 

 ground, destitute of conspicuous 

 leaves. Each runner of the Straw- 

 berry, after having grown to its full 

 length, strikes root from the tip, which fixes it to the ground, then forms 

 a bud there, which develops into a tuft of leaves, and so gives rise to a new 

 plant, whicli sends out new runners to act in the same way. In this 

 manner a single Strawberry plant will spread over a large space, or produce 

 a great number of plants, in the course of the summer, all connected at 

 first by the slender runners ; but these die in the following winter, if not 

 before, and leave the plants as so many separate individuals. 



98. Tendrils are branches of a very slender sort, like runners, not destined 

 like them for propagation, and therefore always destitute of buds or leaves, 

 being intended only for climbing. Simple tendrils are such as those of 

 Passion-flowers (Fig. 92). Compound or branching tendrils are borne by 

 the Cucumber and Pumpkin, by the Grape-Vine, Virginia Creeper, etc. 



99. A tendril commonly grows straight and outstretched until it reaches 

 some neighboring support, such as a stem, when its apex hooks around it 

 to secure a hold ; then the whole tendril shortens itself by coiling up 

 spirally, and so draws the shoot of the growing plant nearer to the sup- 

 porting object. But the tendrils of the Virginia Creeper (Ampelopsis, Fig. 



Fig. 91. Houseleek (Sempervivum), with olTsets. 



