ORGANIC STRUCTURE. 



93 



are constituted (in respect of being- the seat of many 

 buds) like the collet ; in the vine, for instance, the 

 latent buds in the nodes appear to be inexhaustible. 



In the greater number of aged trees the collet 

 cannot be discerned. This is particularly the case in 

 such kinds as produce suckers. Others there are 

 whose collet is protuberant with the remains of 

 former shoots ; or accidentally, as we often perceive 

 the Spanish chestnut to be on dry ground. 



The collet is in most cases the partition between 

 the ascending and descending parts of the plant ; in 

 bulbs it is the radicle plate ; of herbs and fusiform 

 tubers it is the crown ; and in trees and shrubs it is 

 called the collar or collet. (Fig. 27.) It is moreover 

 the base of the pith, which is the central organ of the 

 member which next falls to be described. 

 Fig. 27. 



a, example of the collet as it appears in trees and shrubs ; 6, on 

 fusiform underground stems; c, on herbaceous plants; and <f, on bulbs. 



The Stem. The stem or axis of plants is that 

 columnar body which serves to support and elevate 

 the foliage and fructification. It assumes many 



