65 



The surface is sometimes covered with scales, as in 

 Elaeagnus, when it is said to be lepidote and in other 

 plants with a sticky secretion when it is said to be viscid. 

 Hairs which have branches radiating from one point are 

 called stellate, and those with a swollen head excreting a 

 sticky ^ substance are called glandular, e.g. the hairs on 

 Roses and on the petiole of Corylus Colurna. Structures 

 known as glands are often found on the surface of plants. 

 These are more or less prominent, somewhat fleshy, swellings 

 which may, or may not, secrete sticky substances. They 

 are common on the leaf-stalks of Acacias. Other kinds of 

 glands have been described in previous paragraphs. 



61. The general appearance of Habit. 



a plant is called its habit. This depends largely on the 

 stem, whether it is erect, prostrate, climbing and so 

 on, also on whether the stem is branched or not. The 

 simple columnar stem of most Palms is thus readily dis- 

 tinguished from those of the majority of our forest trees 

 which are much branched. Habit also depends on the 

 position, arrangement, and number of the branches-, branchlets, 

 and twigs, and on their size and mode of growth. Most trees 

 for instance are bare of branches for some distance from 

 the ground, whereas the stems of shrubs branch close to the 

 ground. Bombax malabaricum also is easily recognised in the 

 forest by the fact that its branches are arranged in whorls, or 

 false whorls, see Fig. 3, Plate XI. In some trees .the branchlets 

 and twigs are thick and few in number, in many of the fleshy 

 Euphorbias and some Sterculias, for instance : in others there 

 is a large number of small branchlets and twigs, as in Hard- 

 wickia binata. In old Deodar the branches are almost horizon- 

 tal and form terraces of foliage, while in the spruce, from the 

 more or less horizontal branches, the branchlets and twigs hang 

 downwards. In Ailanthus excelsa the branches are more or less 

 decumbent. In many trees, the branches or twigs are pendulous 

 or 'drooping, such as are the terminal shoots of young Deodar, 

 the branchlets of Anogeissus acuminata and Anjan, and the 

 branches of Salix babylonica. Branches which leave the 

 parent-stem or branch at a wide angle are said to be divaricate, 

 such as those of Combretum ovalifolium, or Hamiltonia suaveo- 

 lens. On the branches also to a great extent depends the general 

 shape of the crown which is often very characteristic ; in 

 Albizzia stipulata the crown is broad and flat-topped, in che Silver 

 Fir it is more or less cylindrical, in the spruce conical, and in 

 the mahua, Bassia latifolia, usually rounded. 



