14 



ARRANGEMENT OF PARTS IN THE COTTON PLANT. 



ARRANGEMENT OF THE FRUITING BRANCHES. 



The fruiting branches of the cotton plant are developed from the 

 extra-axillary buds that stand slightly above and at one side of the 

 axillary buds of the main stalk and the vegetative branches. Fruit- 

 ing branches are very seldom produced from 

 the lowest nodes of the main stalk or the vege- 

 tative branches. Even when no limbs or 

 vegetative branches are developed at the base 

 of the plant, the fruiting branches usually do 

 not appear below, the fourth or fifth joint of 

 the stalk. When vegetative branches are 

 present there is often an interval between 

 them and the fruiting branches, a condition 

 found by ]\Ir. McLachlan to be especially promi- 

 nent in the Egyptian cotton in Arizona. 



The node at which the fruiting branches 

 are first produced on the plant varies con- 

 siderably, not oidy in the different varieties 

 and t3^pes, but also in different conditions of 

 growth. In Egyptian cottons this zone is from 

 the eighth to the fourteenth nodes, while in 

 the Upland cottons it is from the fourth to the 

 fifth. In Upland cotton fruiting branches may 

 begin to be formed very low down, only one 

 or two nodes above the cotyledons, while in 

 Egyptian cottons they generally begin much 

 higher up, between the tenth and the fourteenth 

 nodes. "VMien the vegetative growth is very 

 luxuriant the fruiting branches may be still 

 higher up, or they may fail altogether, all being 

 replaced by branches of the vegetative sort, as 

 already noted. 



Fruiting branches have a nearly horizontal 

 instead of a vertical or ascending position. 

 The basal joints are also longer than those 

 of the vegetative branches, and the other joints 

 arc usually shorter, twisted, and more or less 



Fig. 2.— Two Internodes of a 

 fruiting branch of Upland cot- 

 ton. (Natural size.) 



Zigzag. 



(Fig. 2.) 



ARRANGEMENT OF THE LEAVES AND FLOWERS ON THE FRUITING 



BRANCHES. 



As previously stated, the leaves of the fruiting branches do not 

 show the definite leaf arrangement of those on the main stalk and 

 vegetative branches. Tlie twisting of the joints of the fruiting 



