KINDS OF STEMS AND HKANCHES. 



37 



§ 2. Of Sfcnifi. 



90. Forms or Kinds of Steins. Differences in the size .an<l consistence of stems, 

 such as (listiiiguish phmts into /htI)'^, tfhruhSf and trees, have already been noticed 

 in parafi^raphs 64, 65, and 66. A stem is 



Jli'rhaccoas, when it belongs to an herb, tiiat is, has very little wood in its 

 composition, and does not live over winter above ground : 



Sln'tibliij, when it belongs to a shrub, or is woody : 



Arl/nreous ov AvhoreHcent, when the plant is a tree, or like a tree; that is, 

 when it is tall and grows l)y a single irunk. 



91. The peculiar straw-stem of a grass or grain is nanuMl a Culm. It is 

 generally hollow, except at the joints, which are hard and solid ; but in Indian 

 Corn, Sugar-Cane, and some other Grasses it is not at all hollow. 



92. As to the mode of growth or the direction it takes in growing, the i<tem is 

 Erei't or Uj^'i'jlif, when it grows directly upwards, or nearly so : 

 Asceudinij, when it rises upwards at first in a slanting direction : 



Declined or Rediued, when turned or bent over to one side : 



Derumhent, when the lower part reclines on the ground, as if too weak to 

 stand, but the end turns upwards more or less : 



Procumhent or TrniluKj, when the whole stem trails along the ground : 



Prostrate, when it naturally lies flat on the ground : 



Creeping or Running, when a trailing or prostrate stem strikes root along its 

 lower side, when it i-ests on the ground : 



Climhing, when it rises by laying liold of other objects for support ; either 

 by tendrils, as in the Pea, Gourd, and Grape-Vine ; or by twisting its leafstalks 

 around the supporting body, as in the Virgin's iJower; or by rootlets acting as 

 holdfasts, as in the Ivy and Trumpet-Creeper (86) : 



Twining, when stems rise by coiling themselves spirally around any support, 

 as in the Morn ing-G lory (Fig. 4), Hop, and Bean. 



93. Sevei'al sorts of branches are different enough from the common to have 

 particular names. Indeed, some are so different, that they would not be taken 

 for branches without considerable study. Such, for instance, as 



94- Thorns or SpinSS. Most of these are imperfect, leafless, hai*dened, stunted 

 branches, tapering to a point. That they are branches is evident in the Haw- 

 thorn and similar trees, from their arising from the axil of leaves, as branche.«} 

 do. And on Pear-trees and Plum-trees many shoots may be found which begin 



