2O 



BOTANY. 



and palms, a caudex. Among irregular stems the most 

 common are runners^ like Fig. 94, which gives off from 

 the main stem a prostrate branch, a', that sends out 



FIG. 93 



FIG. 94. 



leaves, r, and roots, /, so producing a new plant which 

 extends itself in like manner. There is another prostrate 

 stem which creeps along the ground, or partly beneath it, 

 and produces buds from its upper surface and roots from 



its lower. This form of stem is 

 k I called a rhizome (Fig. 95), where 



b shows the remains of the flow- 

 ering stem of the present year, 

 b' terminal bud, cc scars of for- 

 mer flowering stems, r roots. 



FIG. 95. 



Another form of rhizome is 



