Volume I Part 13 (2/2)

/# The nomenclature of Roots will not be extended, in Proserpina, beyond the five simple terms here given: though the ordinary botanical ones--corm, bulb, tuber, etc.--will be severally explained in connection with the plants which they specially characterize.

II. THE STEM.

Derivation of word 137

The channel of communication between leaf and root 153

In a perfect plant it consists of three parts:

I. THE STEM (STEMMA) proper.--A growing or advancing shoot which sustains all the other organs of the plant 136

It may grow by adding thickness to its sides without advancing; but its essential characteristic is the vital power of Advance 136 {241}

It may be round, square, or polygonal, but is always roundly minded 136

Its structural power is Spiral 137

It is essentially branched; having subordinate leaf-stalks and flower-stalks, if not larger branches 139

It developes the buds, leaves, and flowers of the plant.

This power is not yet properly defined, or explained; and referred to only incidentally throughout the eighth chapter 134-138

II. THE LEAF-STALK (CYMBA) sustains, and expands itself into, the Leaf 133, 134

It is essentially furrowed above, and convex below 134

It is to be called in Latin, the Cymba; in English, the Leaf-Stalk 135

III. THE FLOWER-STALK (PETIOLUS):

It is essentially round 130

It is usually separated distinctly at its termination from the flower 130, 131

It is to be called in Latin, Petiolus; in English, Flower-stalk 130

These three are the essential parts of a stem. But {242} besides these, it has, when largely developed, a permanent form: namely,

IV. THE TRUNK.--A non-advancing ma.s.s of collected stem, arrested at a given height from the ground 139

/# The stems of annual plants are either leafy, as of a thistle, or bare, sustaining the flower or flower-cl.u.s.ter at a certain height above the ground. Receiving therefore these following names:--- #/

V. THE VIRGA.--The leafy stem of an annual plant, not a gra.s.s, yet growing upright 147

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