THE STEM OF VASCULAR PLANTS. 193 



That which we have said of the stem of Palms is 

 applicable, with very slight modifications, to those of 

 the Cycadeae, the Asparagi which do not branch, arbores- 

 cent Liliaceae, &c. The small number of Palms which, 

 like the Calami, have the stem knotted, entirely ap- 

 proach the culms of Grasses; and when speaking of these 

 we shall notice it. 



The stems of Palms are almost always simple, and 

 without ramifications ; in some species, however, are 

 found branches, either accidentally, as in some Dates, or 

 regularly, as in Cucifera Thehaica, Delile, Hyphcene 

 coriacea, Gsertner; which is constantly divided into 

 branches several times bifurcated. The mode of ramifi- 

 cation of Palms has not as yet been studied carefully, 

 and it merits the attention of observers resident in the 

 countries where they grow. From the little that I have 

 seen in other trees, I am inclined to believe, with Du 

 Petit-Thouars, that all the leaves of Monocotyledons 

 have in their axil a vital point or latent bud, like Dico- 

 tyledons ; and that this bud is only developed when the 

 growth of the upper part of the stem presents some 

 obstacle to the passage of the sap, and makes it con- 

 sequently flow back in greater quantity. 



§ 2. — The Stem of the Liliacea?, Asphodeleae, 

 Pandane£e, &c. 



I use here, in order to be concise, the term Liliaceae in 

 the very wide sense which Tournefort gave to it ; the 

 stem of these plants, when it is simple — as, for example, 

 in Yucca and Dracaena umbraculifera, differs very little 

 from that of Palms, both as to its form and its develop- 

 ment. It is in the same manner cylindrical, and sur- 

 rounded either by the remains of the leaves, or by a 



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