ON STEMS. 37 



called willow-grass (saule en herbe.) You sometimes 

 meet with a plain covered with it, and you would not 

 imagine whence it derives its origin: it is nothing less 

 than the head, or rather, I should say, the extremities of 

 the branches of a large willow-tree. 



Emily. Do you mean a tree which has been accident- 

 ally overthrown and buried, the leaves of which have 

 sprouted above ground ? 



Mrs. B. No ; it is a willow which is annually buried 

 alive. Every spring it struggles to rise above ground, 

 and every autumn it disappears beneath the soil. Let us 

 suppose the seed of a willow springing up at the foot of 

 a mountain, and that the earth which is annually carried 

 down by the rains from this mountain should be sufficient 

 to bury the young plant. The following spring it would 

 again shoot out with redoubled vigor ; for the growth of 

 the plant having been checked by the fall of the soil, the 

 sap, which should have been expended in the produce 

 of foliage, being accumulated in the little stem, will be 

 sufficient to afford nourishment for a double shoot ; two 

 little branches will therefore now appear. This, like its 

 predecessor, flourishes but for a season, and is buried. 

 The two stems the following spring produce four, which 

 expand their leaves, and in the autumn are consigned to 

 the earth ; the third year eight stems arise ; the fourth, six- 

 teen ; and the plant goes on thus doubling its sprouts 

 every year, and the surface of the soil rising, till at length 

 a plain is formed covered with verdure, consisting of the 

 leaves of the willow-tree. 



Caroline. What a singular growth ! How much I 

 should like to walk on one of these curious meadows ! 



Mrs. B. They are, as you may suppose, not very 

 common, since it requires peculiar local circumstances 

 to produce one : the vicinity of a mountain which shall 

 annually send down earth sufficient to bury the young 

 shoots, but not so deeply as to prevent their rising from 

 their tomb every spring. The age of these willows has 

 been ascertained by digging down the side of the plain 

 and observing how often the shoots have been renewed ; 



157. What is the willow grassl 158. In what is it supposed to 

 be produced! 159. Are they numerous 1 ? 160. Why not 1 161. 

 What situation is required to produce them 7 162, What is the 

 appearance if the ground is dug which contains theml 

 4 



