ELEMETS OF STRUCTURAL BOTANY. 



3. Let US now look at the 

 Stem, (Fig. 3.) It is upright, 

 pretty firm, coloured green, 

 and leaves spring from it at 

 intervals. As there is scarce- 

 ly any appearance of wood iu 

 it, we may descrihe it "as 

 herbaceous. At several points 

 along the main stem branches 

 are given off, and you will 

 observe that immediately 

 below the point from which 

 every branch springs there 

 is a leaf on the stem. The 

 angle between the leaf and 

 the stem, on the upper side' 

 is called the aadl of the leaf 

 [axilla, an armpit), and it is 

 a rule to which there are 

 scarcely any exceptions, that 

 branches can only spring 

 from the axils of leaves. 



The stem and all the 

 branches of our plant termi- 

 Pig 3 nate, at their upper extremi- 



ties, either in flowers or in flower-buds. 



4. Let us now consider the Leaves. A glance will 

 show you that the leaves of this plant are not all alike. 

 Those at the lower end of the stem have long stalks, (Fig. 

 4) which we shall henceforward speak of sls petioles. Those 

 a httle higher up have petioles too, but they are not 



