113 



of the developing branch and that where there are several small , 

 abortive buds in one axil their occurrence is not usually so 

 definite as to allow any conclusion to be based upon slight 

 differences in their number. There are however other grounds 

 for assuming that the bud a V and the branch are not mor- 

 phological equivalents. These buds, as we have seen, show 

 the important difference that one developes, the other does 

 not. This difference might in many cases be laid to accidental 

 physical or physiological influences. In lodes however there is 

 reason to believe that there is a real morphological difference 

 between the buds, since those destined to develope occur ex- 

 clusively on two neighboring orthostichies , an arrangement 

 which has to great definiteness and at the same time lack 

 of symmetry to be easily accounted for on physiological grounds 

 if the buds were morphologically alike. The final possibility 

 that the tendril may represent the missing axillary bud need 

 not be taken into account, as even in the early stages of its 

 development it is more than 90° removed from the axil in 

 question. 



Having thus found a possible and indeed very simple way 

 of accounting , on the ground of a sympodial arrangement , for 

 each of the vegetative organs of lodes ^ we may now consider 

 what facts may be found to confirm or disprove the truth 

 of the suppositions made. In the first place the tendril may 

 be examined with regard to the possible occurrence upon it of 

 traces of an axial nature. It will be found that no nodes, 

 rudimentary leaves, or buds are to be discovered upon the 

 tendrils in the vegetative regions of the stem. In the inflor- 

 escences however the tendrils immediately betray their axial 

 character by bearing flowers, and it is furthermore to be 

 noted that they tend here to assume an upright position not 

 infrequently crowding the next younger intermodes of the stem 

 considerably to one side. Attention may also be directed to 

 the fact that the position of the tendrils in the vegetative 

 parts of the stem is exactly that which would be caused by 

 the supposed sympodial development. For if the true morpho- 



