38 



DORMANT BUDS 



[CH. 



As the shoot ages, there is frequently to be observed 

 another breach of the general law, of one bud to each 

 leaf-axil but none in the axils of the bud-scales. 



It not unfrequently happens that buds which have 

 been developed at the base of a shoot get no chance 

 of opening and putting forth their shoots at the usual 

 time, because the struggle for food-supplies, or water, 

 results in their being left unprovided for : stronger shoots 

 in other parts of the tree taking all the available stores. 

 Nevertheless such starved buds do not always die, but 

 they may lead a dormant life, and thus rest for years un- 

 observed. Sometimes these minute buds are developed, 

 after all, in the axils of the bud-scales at the base of the 

 shoot, and may never come to anything. 



W 



per 



Fig. 21. Diagrams of longitudinal sections through a branch and 

 its dormant bud, in the 1st and 20th years respectively. B the bud ; 

 W the wood ; w' connection of bud with wood ; per periderm ; C cortex ; 

 P pith. 



Years after their formation, however, such buds may 

 be awakened to renewed activity if the parts of the 

 shoot by this time thickened and developed into a 



