84 
ORGANOGRAPHY. 
BOOK I. 
Africa Bois-chandelles, the first shoot from the ground is a 
turio (sucker), an inch in diameter, and perhaps fifteen feet 
high ; but in time it distends so much that sometimes two 
men can scarcely embrace it in their extended arms. ( Thou-' 
ars, Essais, p. 3.) 
As Endogenous stems contain no concentric zones, there is 
nothing in their internal structure to indicate age ; but, in the 
opinion of some botanists, there are sometimes external cha- 
racters that will afford sufficient evidence. It is said that the 
number of external rings that indicate the fall of leaves from 
the trunk of the Palm tribe coincides with the number of 
years that the individual has lived. There is, however, 
nothing like proof of this at present before the public ; such 
statements must therefore be received with great caution. It 
may further be remarked, with reference to this subject, that 
in many Palms these rings disappear after a certain number 
of years. 
In arborescent Endogens it usually happens that only one 
terminal leaf-bud developes ; and in such cases the stem is 
cylindrical, or very nearly so, as in Palms. If two terminal 
leaf-buds constantly develope, the stem becomes dichotomous, 
but the branches are all cylindrical, as in Pandanus and the 
Doom Palms of Egypt ; but if axillary leaf-buds are regularly 
developed, as in the Asparagus, Dracaena Draco, or in arbor- 
escent grasses, then the conical form that prevails in Exogens 
uniformly exists in Endogens also. 
Besides the difference now mentioned, there is one other 
form of the Endogenous stem that it is necessary to describe ; 
viz. that of Grasses. In those plants the stem is hollow ex- 
cept at the nodes, where transverse partitions intercept the 
cavity, dividing it into many cells. In the Bamboo these cells 
and partitions are so large that, as is well known, lengths of 
that plant are used as cases to contain papers. 
But if the gradual developement of a grass be attentively 
observed, it will be found that the stem is originally solid ; 
that it becomes hollow in consequence of its increasing in 
diameter more rapidly than new tissue can be formed; and 
that, finally, in old arborescent stems, it again becomes solid 
by the constant addition of matter to its inside; so that 
