28 



FALSE DICHOTOMY 



[CH. 



they belong being more or less 

 suppressed or not, as the case may 

 be: in jEsculus, Acer, Prunus 

 (Fig. 32), &c. the scales repre- 

 sent the bases of leaf-stalks, the 

 laminae of which are more or less 

 suppressed. 



It has been shown that buds 

 are usually either terminal or axil- 

 lary, and it often happens that 

 the terminal buds are larger than 

 the axillary ones, and either soli- 

 tary or flanked by two, three or 

 more of the smaller axillary buds 

 e.g. Oak ; and Spruce, Pine, 

 Silver Fir, and other Abietinese. 



In many cases, however, the 

 terminal bud is suppressed, or 

 its growth stopped, so frequently 

 that the phenomenon may be 

 regarded as normal : obviously 

 this affects the type of branch- 

 ing of the tree concerned. Ex- 

 amples occur in the Lilac where 

 the terminal bud often fails 

 to develop, or ends in flowers 

 which then fall, and two opposite 

 lateral ones continue the growth 

 of the shoot, giving the effect of 

 forked branching: less regularly, 

 but not unfrequently, the terminal 

 buds of the Horse-chestnut (Fig. 

 18) suffer a similar suppression, 

 and still oftener their further elon- 



Fig. 18. Twig of Horse- 

 chestnut, with two opposite 

 lateral buds flanking the 

 saddle-shaped scar whence 

 the terminal inflorescence 

 of last year has fallen, thus 

 producing false dichotomy. 



