78 NINTH REPORT. 



THE BUD SCALES OF CELASTRUS AID THE VINE IN CLIMBING. 



W. J. Beal. 



On a southern slope in our botanic garden, I have for twent}^ years grown 

 three species of Celastrus, our native C. scandens, and two others, all behav- 

 ing much alike. Each wood}^ vine has a small pole to climb that is often 

 supplemented by small sticks nailed on to occupy the place of short upright 

 branches. Celastrus paniculata is the one selected for most of the observa- 

 tions. Like other twiners, this one has slender branches which lean over and 

 away from the pole that sustains the main vine. They twine in the direction 

 opposite the course of the sun and a branch may make a growth of five to 

 eight feet in one season, the base of which is less than a fourth of an inch in 

 diameter. Only about two feet of the apex is capable of swinging about at 

 the top of a neighboring hemlock tree. The young tender apex while in the 

 air is irregularly coiled or curved like a sickle or cork screw with a coil two to 

 four inches across. 



The point of special interest is now about to be described. The sharp outer 

 1)ud scales 2-4 mm. long with diverging recurved tips begin to harden when 

 four inches to a foot back of the growing apex of the vine, and late in July 

 this hardening is apparent to near the apex. 



I thought at first the two outer lateral scales were morphologically stipules, 

 but this is not the case. Beneath a bud is a pair of very delicate fringed 

 stipules for nearly every leaf. One has only to run his hand loosely from the 

 base towards the apex of a 3''0ung vine to be impressed with the importance 

 of the bud scales as an aid in climbing. The tip of a vine not finding a sup- 

 port, often recoils on itself making an ovate loop three to four inches in diam- 

 eter. It is not unusual for two to five j^oung branches to wind about each 

 other, forming a loose cable from which slender j^oung branches may extend 

 the following season. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



