XIV INTRODUCTION. 



16. The herbaceous perennial resembles the annual during the first year of 

 its growth ; but it also forms (usually towards the close of the season), on its 

 stock (the portion of the stem and root w r hich does not die), one or more buds, 

 either exposed, and then popularly called eyes, or concealed among leaves. 

 These buds, called leaf -buds, to distinguish them from fioiver-buds or un- 

 opened flowers, are future branches as yet undeveloped ; they remain dormant 

 through the w r inter, and the following spring grow r out into new stems bearing 

 leaves and flowers like 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. 



17. Shrubs and trees form similar leaf- buds either at the extremity of their 

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

 usually axillary, that is, they appear in the axil of each leaf, i. e. in the angle 

 formed by the leaf and the branch. "When they appear at any other part 

 of the plant they are called adventitious. If these buds by producing roots (19) 

 become distinct plants before separating from the parent, or if adventitious 

 leaf-buds are produced in the place of flowers or seeds, the plant is said to be 

 viviparous or proliferous. 



§ 2. The Root. 



18. Roots ordinarily produce neither buds, leaves, nor flowers. Their 

 branches, called fibres when slender and long, proceed irregularly from any 

 part of their surface. 



19. Although 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, or indeed occasionally from almost any part of the plant. 

 They are then often distinguished as adventitious, but this term is by some 

 applied to all roots which are not in prolongation of the original radicle. 



20. 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 (25). 



taproots, when the main root descends perpendicularly into the earth, 

 emitting only very small fibrous branches. 



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

 annual 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. 



22. The Stock of a herbaceous perennial, in its most complete state, in- 

 cludes 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 will increase yearly, so as at 

 length to form dense tufts. They will often preserve through the winter a few 

 leaves, amongst which are placed the buds which grow out into stems the fol- 

 lowing year, whilst the underside of the stock emits new roots from or amongst 

 the remains of the old ones. These perennial stocks only differ from the per- 

 manent base of an undershrub in the shortness of the perennial part of the 

 stems and in their texture usually less woody. 



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

 which proceeds in autumn from the base of the stem either aboveground or 

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

 it, alone survives the winter. In the following year its buds produce the new 



