or Culmus, among botanists, a straw, or haulm;

* The founder of Trinity college was Sir Thomas Pope, who, it seems, would often take a piece of plate from a friend's house, and carry it home, concealed under his gown; out of fun, no doubt. Cuff, being merry with some of his acquaintance at another college, happened to say, alluding to Sir Thomas Pope's usual joke above mentioned, "A pox on this beggarly house! why, our founder stole as much plate as would build such another." This piece of wit was the cause of his expulsion. The heads of colleges in those days did not understand humour. Anthony Wood was told this story by doctor Bathurst. haulm; defined by Linnaeus to be the proper trunk of the grasses, which elevates the leaves, flower, and fruit.

This fort of trunk is tubular, or hollow, and has frequently knots, or joints, distributed at proper distances through its whole length. The leaves are long, fleek, and placed either near the root in great numbers, or proceed singly from the different joints of the stalk, which they embrace at the base, like a sheath, or glove.

The haulm is commonly garnished with leaves: sometimes, however, it is naked; that is, devoid of leaves, as in a few species of cypress-grass. Most grasses have a round cylindrical stalk; in some species of Schoenus, Scirpus, cypres-grass, and others, it is triangular.

The stalk is sometimes entire, that is, has no branches; sometimes branching, as in Schoenus aculeatus & capensis; and not seldom consists of a number of scales, which lie over each other like tiles.

Lastly, in a few grasses, the stalk is not interrupted with joints, as in the greater part. The space contained between every two knots, or joints, is termed by botanists internodium, and articulus culmi.

This species of trunk often affords certain marks of distinction, in discriminating the species. Thus in the genus Eriocaulon, the species are scarce to be distinguished but by the angles of the culmus, or stalks. These in some species are in number 5, in others 6, and in others 10.