THE STEM AND BRANCHES. 195 



mony. Yet others become scrambling bushes, 

 like the blackberry and the raspberry. In the 

 blackthorn and the hawthorn the bush has 

 become more erect and tree-like. Both types of 

 growth occur in the dog-rose and many other 

 roses. The cherry attains the size and etature 

 of a small tree. The mountain- ash is bigger ; 

 the apple-tree bigger still ; while the pear often 

 grows to a considerable height and much spread- 

 ing dignity. These are all members of the rose 

 family. Here, therefore, every variety of shape 

 and size is well represented within the limits of 

 a single order. 



One word must be give?i to the varieties of the 

 stem. Sometimes, as in the oak, the trunk is 

 much branched and intricate ; sometimes, as in 

 the date-palm, simple and unbranched, bearing 

 only a single tuft of circularly arranged leaves. 

 But the most interesting in this respect are the 

 climbing and twisting stems, which do not take 

 the trouble to support themselves, but lean for 

 aid upon the trunk of some stronger and more 

 upright neighbour. Stems of this sort are 

 familiar to us all in the hop and the bindweed. 

 In other climbers the stems do not twine to any 

 great extent, but the plants support themselves 

 by root-like processes,, as in ivy, or by tendrils, 

 as in the vine, or by twisted leaf-stalks, as in 

 the canary creeper. Others cling by means of 

 suckers, as the Ampelopsis Veitcliii, or hang by 

 opposite leaves, like clematis, or cling by hooked 

 hairs, as is the case with cleavers. In certain 

 instances, such creeping or climbing plants tend 

 to become parasitic — that is to say, they fasten 



