76 



THE STEM. 



b. In regard to duration, trees differ much, some attaining their growth in a fe\v 

 years and immediately decaying, while on the contrary, the ordinary age of trees 

 is beyond the age of man, and some outlive many generations, as the oak, pine. * 



190. The SUCKER is a branch proceeding from the stem, or 

 root, beneath the surface, producing leaves, &c., and throwing 

 out roots from its own base, becoming an independent plant. 

 Ex. rose, raspberry. 



191. An OFFSET is a short, lateral branch, terminated by a 

 cluster of leaves, and capable of taking root when separated 

 from the parent plant. Ex. house-leek (Sempervivum). 



192. A STOLON is a branch which proceeds from an elevated 

 part of the stem, and afterwards, descending to the earth, takes 

 root, sends up new shoots, and finally becomes a new plant. It 

 differs from the sucker, in originating above the ground and not 

 below it. 



FIG. 24. Forms of the stern ; 1, Fragaria; 2, Vitis ; ft, tendrils ; 3, cirrhose leaf of Pisum ; 

 4, Pyrola ; 5, sucker. 



193. A plurality of stems, or trunks, is observed in a few spe- 

 cies of trees growing in tropical regions. The Banyan ( Ficus 



* It is recorded that a live oak, in Louisiana, lived 1000 years; a sycamore in Palestine, 

 1050 years ; a pine in Asia Minor, 1800 years ; a cedar on Mt. Lebanon, 2120 years, and the 

 great chestnut on Mt. Etna, 2600 years. It is also supposed that there are yet living, in the 

 11 garden of Gethsemane," some of the olives which witnessed our Saviour's passion ; and 

 at Terni, Italy, is an olive plantation supposed to haye existed since the age of Pliny. 



