STEMS AND STALKS. 
57 
returning to them the juices absorbed from the earth by the 
root. The stems of vegetables bear, in many respects, a striking 
analogy to the trunks of animals. 
The different kinds of stems, or stalks, have been divided into 
seven classes, as follows : — 
Caulis, Tige ,* or proper stem, Culm , Scape, Peduncle , Peti- 
ole , and Stipe. 
Fig. 3. 
1st. Caulis, Tige, or proper stem, is such as is 
seen in forest trees, in shrubs, and in most 
annual plants. The caulis is either simple, 
as in the white lily ; or branching as in the 
geranium ; the branching is the more common 
form. You have here the representation of 
a caulis, or proper stem, (a) a peduncle, or 
flower stalk, (b) and the petiole, or leaf stalk, 
(c). 
2d. Culm, or straw, is the kind of stem which 
you see in the grasses and rushes. The culm 
is either without knots, as in the bulrush, 
jointed or knotted, as in wheat and indian 
corn, geniculated or bent like an elbow, as in 
some of the grasses ; the two latter divisions 
are not distinct, for those culms which are 
bent, are also knotted, though they may be 
knotted without being bent. The Bamboo, 
Sugar Cane, and various species of Buds have 
stems of the culm kind ; some of them, par- 
ticularly the Bamboo, are known to attain the 
height of forty feet. 
* Tige is a French word ; the i should, therefore, be sounded like c, the 
g soft, like j, as tejc. 
Stems analogous to the the trunks of animals — Division of stems — Cauli3 
— Culm — 
