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THE STUDY OF BOTANY. 
Ascending—raises itself above ground, serving often as a trunk, 
and produces the herb or plant. The 
Descending—strikes gradually downwards into the ground and 
puts forth radicles or fibres. 
Radicula, radicle or little root, is a small fibrous part, issuing first 
either immediately from the seed or that which terminates the stock, 
or main root, penetrates into the soil, and draws nourishment, for the 
production and support of the plant, and is the principal or essential 
part of every root of vegetables. 
2. The Herb, orplant itself, is a part of the vegetable arising from 
the root, it consists of 
Truncus, the trunk, that part which serves to muitiply the herb, 
leading immediately from the root. It is of seven kinds, viz. 
Caulis, a stem, the proper trunk of the herb, which serves to ele¬ 
vate the leaves, and the fructification- It is either 
Simple—when it proceeds in a continual series towards the sum¬ 
mits, which may be, either 
Integri, entire, or Ramosa, branchy. 
Compound—when it is subdivided into (ramuli) small branches, 
which diminish as they ascend, these are 
Dichotomus, forked, when the divisions are always in two parts. 
Subdivided, when they are divided into branches, irregularly and 
without order. Or 
Articulate, jointed, when they are distinguished from space to 
space by knots or joints, as in Piper. 
Culmus, a straw, is the proper trunk or stem of a grass, and serves 
to elevate and support both the leaves and the fructification, it is 
either 
Enodis, without knots, when it is continuous, and not intercepted 
by joints; 
Articulate, jointed, when it is connected by various joints, or 
Squamose, scaly, when it is covered with imbricate scales. 
Scapus. a stalk, is a universal trunk elevating the fructification, 
but not the leaves. 
Pedunculus, a peduncle, or footstalk of a flower, is a partial trunk, 
raising the fructification but not the leaves. 
Pedicellis, is a partial flower-stalk. 
Petiolus, a petiole or foot-stalk of a leaf, is a species of trunk, 
which elevates the leaves but not the fructification. 
Petiolulus is a partial foot-stalk of a leaf. 
Frons is a species of trunk composed of a branch and a leaf, 
blended together, and is frequently united with the fructification, and 
