C 119 ] 



CHAPTER XIV. 



OF BUDS. 



Gemma, a Bud, contains the rudiments of a plant, or 

 of part of a plant, for a while in a latent state, till the time 

 of the year and other circumstances favour their evolu- 

 tion. In the bud therefore the vital principle is dor- 

 mant, and its excitability is accumulated. The closest 

 analogy exists between buds and bulbs ; and indeed the 

 Dentaria bidbifera, Engl. Bot. t 309, Lilium bulbifer- 

 um, Jacq. Fl. Austr. t. 226, and Gerarde emac. 193, 

 with other similar plants, as mentioned p. 100, almost 

 prove their identity. 



Buds of trees or shrubs, destined for cold countries, 

 are formed in the course of the summer in the bosoms 

 of their leaves, and are generally solitary ; but m the 

 Blue-berried Honeysuckle, Lonicera aerulea, Jacq. FL 

 Aiistr. append, t. 17, they grow one under another for 

 three successive seasons,/ 24. The buds of the Plane- 

 tree, Platanus, Du Hamel Arb. v. 2. 1 7 1 , are concealed 

 in the footstalk, which must be removed before they 

 can be seen, and which they force off by their increase ; 

 so that no plant can have more truly and necessarily de- 

 ciduous leaves than the Plane. Shrubs in general have 

 no buds, neither have the trees of hot climates. Lin- 

 nasus once thought the presence of buds might distin- 

 guish a tree from a shrub, but he was soon convinced of 

 tliere being no real limits between them. 



