INTRODUCTION TO BRITISH BOTANY vii 



The Stem. — The stem is said to be simple when it bears leaves, 

 or leaves and flowers only without branches, as in Grass of Par- 

 nassus, Plate 33. 



A compound stem is repeatedly and irregularly branched, as in 

 Flax-seed, p. 49. 



The term erect, when applied to the stem, has the same meaning 

 as perpendicular. 



An ascending stem is one which is horizoiital when first it leaves 

 the root, and then becomes erect. When several stems grow from 

 one root, the central one is often erect, the rest ascending, as in the 

 common Mallow. 



A prostrate stem trails along the ground without ever becoming 

 erect. 



A creeping stem differs from the last by sending out roots from 

 its joints. Some plants have erect stems with creeping scions, or 

 shoots from the base, as the Creeping Buttercup, p. 6. 



The Axil. — This name is given to the angle formed by a leaf 

 where it leaves the stem. A bud or flower which springs from this 

 angle is termed axillary. 



The Leaf. — Leaves which spring directly from the root are called 

 radical ; those which grow on the stem are 

 either alternate, as in Balsam, p. 60 ; op- 

 posite, as in the Pink, p. 39 ; or whorled : 

 the leaves of Bedstraw, Plate 37, grow in 

 whorls. 



Leaves which have no stalks are termed 

 sessile (sitting), as in Eryngo, Plate 35. 

 A leaf which consists of but one piece is said to be simple, as in 

 Marsh Marigold, Plate 3 ; a ternate leaf consists of three leaflets on 

 a common stalk, as in Medick, p. 67 : a quinate, of five, as in Marsh 

 Cinquefoil, Plate 27. Other forms of the compound leaf are the 

 pinnate (from penna, a feather), where a number of leaflets are 

 ranged along the opposite sides of a common stalk, as in Saint-foin, 



P- 77- 



A simple leaf is sometimes wavy at the edge, as in the Oak, 



Plate 82 ; 3-, 5-, or j-lohed, as in the Mallows, Plate 13 ; and these 



lobes are often deeply cut, as in Geranium, Plates 15 and 16. A leaf 



of five or more narrow lobes united near the main stalk is termed 



palmate (from palma, the palm of the hand), as in HeUebore, p. 8. 



The pedate leaf differs from the palmate, in having the two side 



lobes divided a second time at the edge nearest the stalk. A leaf 



which is lobed after the manner of a pinnate leaf is termed pinnatifid 



(from penna, a feather, and findo, to cleave). 



If a stalk is attached to a leaf at or near its centre, such a leaf is 



termed peltate (from pelta, a buckler), as in Cotyledon, Plate 32. 



