Page:An introduction to physiological and systematical botany (1st edition).djvu/146

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116

CHAPTER XIII.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF STEMS AND STALKS OF PLANTS.


Linnæus enumerates seven kinds of Trunks, Stems, or Stalks of Vegetables. These are necessary to be known, for botanical distinctions, though some are more important than others, both in that respect and in a physiological point of view.


1. Caulis. A Stem properly so called, which bears, or elevates from the root, the leaves as well as flowers. The trunks and branches of all trees and shrubs come under this denomination, as well as of a great proportion of herbaceous plants, especially annuals.

The Stem is either simple, as in the White Lily, or branched, as in most instances. When it is regularly and repeatedly divided, and a flower springs