66 



ELEMENTS OF STRUCTURAL, BOTANY. 



ftem has been wounded. The bud from which the 

 main stem is developed, or a branch continued, is of 

 course at the end of the stem or branch, and so is 

 'e'^nnnal. 



89. If you examine a few stems of plants at random, 

 you will probably find some of them quite soft and 

 easily compressible, while others will be firm, and will 

 resist compression. The stem of a Beech or a Currant 

 is an instance of the latter kind, and any weed will 

 serve to illustrate the iormer. The Beech and the 

 Currant have uoodi/ stems, while the weeds are hercle 

 ceous. Between the Beech and the Currant the chief 

 difference is in size. The Beech is a tree, the Currant a 

 shrub. But you are not to suppose that there is a hard 

 and fast line between shrubs and trees, or between herbs 

 and shrubs. A series of plants could be constructed, 

 commencing with an unquestionable herb, and end- 

 ing with an unquestionable tree, but embracing plants 

 exhibiting such a gradual transition from herbs to 

 shrubs, and from shrubs to trees, that you could not 

 say at what precise point in the series the changes 

 occurred. 



90. The forms assumed by stems above ground are 

 numerous, and they are described mostly by terms in 

 common use. For instance, if a stem is weak, and 

 trails along the ground, it is trailiun, or prostrate : and 



if, as in the run- 

 ners of the Straw- 

 berry, it takes 

 root on the lowei- 

 side, then it is 

 creeping. Many 

 „. „„ weak stems raise 



Fig. 97. 



