OF THE STALK. 99 



of the Grasses, Rushes, and plants nearly allied to 

 them. It bears both leaves and flowers, and its na- 

 ture is more easily understood than defined. Many 

 botanists have thought this term superfluous. 

 The Culm is occasionally 



Enodis, without joints, as in our common Rushes, 

 Juncus conglomerates, Engl. Bot. t.'$35, and 

 cffusuS) t. 836; 



Articulatus, jointed, as in Agrostis alba, t. 1 189, 

 Airacaiiescensyt. \ 190, Avena strigosa, t. 1266, 

 and most other grasses ; 

 Geniculatus, bent like the knee, as Alopecunis ge- 



niculatus, t. 1250. 



It is either solid or hollow, round or triangular, 



rough or smooth, sometimes hairy or downy, scarcely 



woolly. I know of no instance of such a scaly culm as 



Linnaeus has figured in his Philosophia Botanlca, t. 4, 



f. Ill, nor can I conceive what he had in view. 



3. SCAPUS, a Stalk, springs from the Root, and bears 

 the flowers and fruit, but not the leaves. Primula 

 vulgaris, the Primrose, Engl. Bot. t. 4, and P.veris, 

 the Cowslip, t. 5, are examples of it. In the former 

 the stalk is simple and single-flowered ; in the latter 

 subdivided, and many-flowered. It is either naked, 

 as in Narcissus, Engl. Bot. t. 17, or scaly, as in 

 Tussilago Farfara, t. 429. In others of this last 

 genus, t. 430 and 43 1, the scales become leafy, and 

 render the Scopus a proper Caulis. 



H 2 



