60 EP1CORMIC BRANCHES [CH. 



It is also probable that in the latter case the increased 

 warming and illumination of the stem and the bud itself 

 act as stimuli to its development, and in any case such 

 must act beneficially on the first leaves put forth from 

 the bud. 



I have so far considered the bud B as a true dormant 

 axillary bud. The case is not materially altered when, 

 instead of the true axillary bud we have at B one or more 

 minute dormant buds which had originated years ago in 

 the axils of the bud-scales of the then axillary bud; or 

 when, at the base of a shoot developed in the axil but 

 which never came to anything conspicuous, one or more 

 minute buds were formed and kept alive in the same 

 manner, as suppressed or dormant buds. The vascular 

 connections will then be somewhat more complex than in 

 the diagram (Fig. 14), but the principle is exactly the 

 same. Since this book is not concerned with anatomical 

 details, further than those needed to explain the external 

 features, I pass these by, merely contenting myself with 

 pointing out that in most cases the epicormic branches 

 arise in tufts simply because the primary dormant bud, 

 during its years of suppressed life, usually manages to 

 form a number of such minute microscopic basal buds in 

 the axils of its bud-scales and basal leaves, and in some 

 cases even accessory collateral or superposed buds as well. 

 For further details of these the reader is referred to 

 Vol. I. 



Epicormic branches, then, are normally due to truly 

 dormant buds, which are there all the time but so minute 

 and suppressed that the successive layers of periderm and 

 bark have practically invested them and nearly covered 

 them up. 



The case of stool-shoots proper is quite different. It 

 is true that in many instances, especially in those known 



