THE SHOOT. jy 



primary stem is short and thick, and has thin scale leaves 

 upon it, it forms a corm, as in cyclamen and Indian turnip. 



Branches of the specialized primary shoot may be like it, 

 as when some branches of the rhizome or corm are them- 

 selves rhizomes or corms. Others, however, will be adapted 

 to other purposes, as when aerial branches arise from rhizomes 

 to carry foliage and flowers, or when slender leafless shoots 

 called runners develop from the main axis of the strawberry 

 (fig- 183). Offsets and stolons (figs. 182, 207) are similar 

 branches likewise adapted to propagation. (See •[[ 301.) 



Branches of the secondary shoots may also be different 

 from their parent axis. In different plants the shoots assume 

 the most varied forms. 



Such specialized branches may be confined to a definite 

 region of the plant, or may be distributed over it. The 

 more important of these kinds of branches may now be 

 enumerated. 



94. (3) Dwarf branches. — It is not uncommon to find 

 branches specialized merely by their slight development in 

 length and their capacity for being separated readily from 

 the parent shoot. Such short branches are particularly com- 

 mon among the cone-bearing trees. In these plants the 

 short branches carry the clusters of needle leaves (figs. 63, 

 64, 198). After the death of the leaves the branches them- 

 selves drop off. Somewhat similar short branches are to be 

 recognized among many deciduous trees, and, in the apple, 

 the so-called fruit spurs are not dissimilar (fig. 65). 



95. (h) Flowers. — The most common of the specialized 

 branches among the seed plants are those which constitute 

 the flower. In these the axis usually remains short, the 

 leaves are crowded, and often some of them are highly 

 colored (fig. 66). Commonly these flower branches are 

 short-lived and drop off with the fruit or earlier. 



96. (c) Leaf-like branches. — A few plants have developed 



