THE STEM OF VASCULAR PLANTS. 131 



Scapes (scapi) are those organs, devoid of true leaves, 

 or only producing floral ones, which bear the flowers of 

 certain plants, such as the Hyacinth ; these are not 

 true stems, but kinds of peduncles which spring from a 

 short subterranean stock. — (See Book III. Chap. I. 

 Sect. II.) 



The point where the stem joins the root, and which 

 is generally on a level with the surface of the ground, 

 bears the name of the Neck (collum; collet). Grew 

 gave it the name of Coarcture. Turpin has been in- 

 duced, from comparison with the animal kingdom, to 

 call it the Median Horizontal Line. Lamarck designates 

 it by that of the Vital Node, because it is, in fact, a 

 kind of centre, above and below which the fibres enjoy 

 very diflerent properties ; but these fibres appear con- 

 tinuous, and anatomy does not give any reason for the 

 diflerence which exists among them, so that the Neck is 

 sometimes the point of demarcation of two organs, and not 

 itself an organ ; its situation even is not always easy to 

 be recognised with certainty. There are, in fact, certain 

 stems, such as those of Eryngium, which have at the base 

 the appearance and texture of true roots, so that they 

 can only be distinguished by their ascending direction. 



Certain stems present an interval between the Nodes 

 (nodi ; no'udsj ; that is to say, those firmer and denser 

 parts which appear formed either by the interlacement 

 of the fibres, as is seen in some grasses, or more rarely 

 by stony concretions analogous to calculi — as, for ex- 

 ample, in the Cane, which is improperly said to be 

 jointed. The part of the stem which is found between 

 two Nodes bears the name of Internode (inter- 

 nodium ; entre-voeud). The leaves arise usually from the 

 nodes of knotted stems ; hence it happens that in those 

 stems wliich have no nodes, the part between two pairs 

 or two rows of leaves frequently goes under the name of 



K 2 



