4 TNTEODTTCTIOK. 



leaves. These buds are future branches as yet undeveloped ; they remain 

 dormant through the winter, and the following spring grow out into new 

 stems bearing leaves and flowers hke those of the preceding year, whilst the 

 lower part of the stock emits fresh roots to replace those which had perished 

 at the same time as the stems. 



Shrubs and trees form similar buds either at the extremity of their 

 branches, or along the branches of the year. In the latter case the buds 

 usually appear in the axil of each leaf, i.e. in the angle formed by the leaf 

 and the branch. 



§ 2. The Soot. 



Roots produce neither leaves, flowers, nor buds. Their branches, called 

 fibres when slender and long, proceed u-regularly from any part of their 

 surface. 



Ahhough roots proceed usually from the base of the stem or stock, they 

 may also be produced from the base of any bud, especially if the bud lie 

 along the ground, or is otherwise placed by nature or art in circumstances 

 favourable for their development. 



Roots are 

 fibrous, when they consist chiefly of slender fibres. 

 tuberous, when either the main root or Its branches are thickened into 

 one or more short fleshy or woody masses called tubers. 



, taproots, when the main roct descends perpendicularly into the eaith, 

 emitting only very small fibrous branches. 



The stock of a herbaceous perennial, or the lower part of the stem of an 

 annua] or perennial, or the lowest branches of a plant are sometimes under- 

 ground and assume the appearance of a root. They then take the name of 

 rhizome. The rhizome may always be distinguished from the true root by 

 the presence or production of one or more buds, or leaves, or scales. 



§ 3. The Stock. 



The Stock of a herbaceous perennial, in its most complete state, includes 

 a small portion of the summits of the previous year's roots, as well as of the 

 base of the previous year's stems. Such stocks wiU increase yearly, so as at 

 length to form dense tufts. They wOl often preserve a few leaves through 

 the winter, amongst which are placed the buds, which grow out into stems 

 the following year, whilst the under side of the stock emits new roots from, 

 or amongst the remains of the old ones. 



These perennial stocks only difler from the permanent base of an under- 

 shrub in the shortness of the perennial part of the stems, and in their tex- 

 ture usually less woody. 



In some perennials however the stock consists merely of a branch, which 

 proceeds in autumn from the base of the stem, either above-ground or imder- 

 ground, and produces one or more buds. This branch, or a portion of it, 

 alone survives the winter. In the following year these buds produce the 

 new stem and roots, wliilst the rest of the plant, even the branch on which 

 these buds were formed, has died away. 



These annual stocks, called sometimes hybernacula, offsets, or stoles, keep 

 up the communication between the annual stem and root of one year and 

 those of the following year, thus forming altogether a perennial plant. 



The stock, whether annual or perennial, is often entirely underground or 

 root-like. This is the rootstock, to which some botanists Umit the meaning 



