STEMS. 



51 



plants as the primrose and the dandelion be cut down to a 

 fraction of an inch in length. It may take on apparently 

 root-like forms, as in many grasses and sedges, or become 

 thickened by underground deposits of starch and other plant- 

 food, as in the iris, the potato, and the crocus. Condensed 

 forms of stem may exist above ground, or, on the other hand. 



Fig. 39. — Stem of "Smilax" (Myrsiphylliun). 



I, scale-like leaves ; C/, eladophyll, or leaf-like branch, growing in the axil of the 



leaf J ped, flower-stalk, growing in the axil of a leaf. 



branches may be flat and thin enough closely to imitate leaves. 

 'In short, the stem manifests great readiness in adapting itself 

 to the most varied conditions of existence. 



