STEM
What continues between root and branch.
A stem carries what began elsewhere toward what may grow beyond it.
It is neither the root nor the branch.
It receives.
It supports.
It conducts.
It permits extension without requiring separation from origin.
ROOT → STEM → BRANCH
What reaches the branch may have traveled through a structure the branch did not create.
What begins at the root may become visible somewhere else.
The stem carries relation forward.
PIPE is a very productive neighboring primitive, because it forces us to ask what STEM is doing mechanically rather than botanically.
A stem is, among other things, a living conduit. It carries water, minerals, sugars, chemical signals. But unlike a simple pipe, it also grows, branches, repairs, thickens, stores, and participates in producing what it supplies.
So LOOM could make the distinction:
PIPE — carries through.
STEM — carries forward.
BRANCH — carries outward.
That is quite strong.
PIPE emphasizes conduction between locations:
SOURCE → PIPE → DESTINATION
STEM introduces lineage and continued formation:
ROOT → STEM → BRANCH
And BRANCH introduces differentiated continuation:
STEM → BRANCH A / BRANCH B / BRANCH C
SWITCH
Where an available path may change.
A switch does not create the routes it distinguishes.
It changes which route may carry what follows.
PATHS EXIST → SWITCH → ONE PATH PROCEEDS
Selection changes continuation without rewriting the field.