42 THE PLANT WORLD 



WHAT IS A BUD AND HOW LONG DOES IT RETAIN ITS IDENTITY? 



Three or four years ago a friend who was a leader in agricultural 

 experiment station work gave an address, the leading portion of which 

 hinged on the definition of a bud as exemplified in an apple tree. He 

 made the statement that no bud of a living tree ever ceased to exist as a 

 bud, unless it terminated in a flower or was by some means killed. A bud 

 never lost its identity. I wrote criticising his views, and he replied with 

 quotations from others, still believing he was right and that I was wrong. 



I looked up all the definitions I could find and still wished to secure 

 others ; hence I brought the question before the Botanical Society of 

 America for a few moments at its last meeting in Washington. Profes- 

 sors Bessey and Barnes were appointed a committee to assist us in a 

 report. 



I quote their definitions and restate my own. Here are the words of 

 Professor C. E. Bessey : "in the growth of a shoot it frequently happens 

 that the elongation of the stem is checked for a time, while the leaves 

 continue their growth for a while longer. The result is a collection of 

 leaves, mostly closely packed together into a pretty solid mass, and this 

 we call a ' ' bud. ' ' Usually the leaves are considerably modified, the outer 

 ones soon becoming, etc. — (skipped a line). A bud is thus a quiescent 

 state of a shoot." 



And here are the words of Professor C. R. Barnes : "A bud is simply 

 that portion of a shoot in which the rudimentary members are protected 

 by the overarching of the older lateral members. A bud has no such 

 thing as identity^ its state of development and general character being 

 merely modified in adaptation to the seasonal variations to which it is 

 subject." 



My own definition to my friend was nearly identical with the last sen- 

 tence as quoted from Professor Barnes : "A bud of any of our woody 

 plants, at least in the Northern and Central United States, is dormant or 

 nearly so during the winter, but when spring arrives the bud develops 

 leaves, node above node, each bearing one or more leaves. While grow- 

 ing, a bud does not retain its identity for two weeks in succession." 



W. J. Beal. 



Editorial. 



We feel sure that our readers will be more interested in Professor 

 Lloyd's outline of the work he proposes to accomplish in connection with 

 our Teachers' Department than in any midwinter botanical reflections 

 of our own, and we therefore propose to establish a record for editorial 

 brevity this month. We trust that The Plant World in its new dress 

 is finding favor among those to whom it has hitherto been a stranger. 



