IOO 
PHARMACEUTICAL BOTANY 
A shrubby or fruitcose stem is a woody stem larger than the pre- 
ceding and freely branching near the ground. Example: Lilac, etc. 
A trunk is the woody main stem of a tree. 
Herb and Tree 
A tree is a perennial woody plant of considerable size (20 feet or 
more in height) and having as the above-ground parts a trunk and a 
crown of leafy branches. 
An herb is a plant whose stem does not become woody and perma- 
nent, but dies, at least down to the ground, after flowering. 
Underground Stems. — A rhizome is a creeping underground stem, 
more or less scaly, sending off roots from its lower surface and stems 
from its upper. The rhizome grows horizontally, vertically or ob- 
liquely, bearing a terminal bud at its tip. Its upper surface is 
marked with the scars of the bases of aerial stems of previous years. 
Examples: Triticum, Rhubarb, etc. 
The tuber is a short and excessively thickened underground stem, 
borne usually at the end of a slender, creeping branch, and having 
numerous eyes or buds. Example: Tubers of the Potato. 
The corm is an underground stem excessively thickened and solid 
and characterized by the production of buds from the center of the 
upper surface and rootlets from the lower surface. Examples: 
Colchicum, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, etc. 
A bulb is a very short and scaly stem, producing roots from the 
lower face and leaves and flower from the upper. 
Tunicated bulbs are completely covered by broad scales which 
form concentric coatings. Examples: Onion, Squill, Daffodil. 
Scaly bulbs have narrow imbricated scales, the outer ones not en- 
closing the inner. Example: Lily. 
Tubers and corms are annual. Bulbs and Rhizomes are perennial. 
Exogenous and Endogenous Stems.- — Exogenous stems are typical 
of Gymnosperms and Dicotyledons and can increase materially in 
thickness due to presence of a cambium. Such stems show differen- 
tiation into an outer or cortical region and an inner or central cylinder 
region. 
Endogenous stems are typical of most Monocotyledons and cannot 
