NODE AND INTERNODES. 71 



some or all of them are developed, forming leafy divisions of the axis, which thus 

 becomes branched. 



b. Buds are said to be adventitious when they are neither tcnninal nor axillary. 

 Such buds generally result from some unnatural condition of the plant, as maim- 

 ing or disease, and may be fonncd in the internodcs, or upon the roots (140), 

 or from the trunk, or even from the leaves, as in the Bryophyllum. 



170. A BRANCH, therefore, is a division of the axis, produced 

 by the development of an axillaiy bud. 



171. A THORN, or spine, is a leafless, hardened, pointed, 

 woody process, with which some plants are armed, as if for self- 

 defence. Ex. Crataegus, locust. 



a. The thorn appears to be an abortive growth of a bud, resulting from the im- 

 perfect development of the grotving point only, while its leafy coverings perish. 

 Some plants which naturally produce thorns become thomless by cultivation. 

 In such cases the buds are enabled, by better tillage, to produce branches instead 

 of thorns. Ex. apple, pear, gooseberry. 



b. The thorn is distinguished from the prickle (43) by its woody structure, and 

 its connection with the wood of the stem, while the priclde, as of the rose, consists 

 of hardened cellular tissue, connected with the bark only. 



172. That point in the stem where the leaf, with its axillary 

 bud, is produced, is called the node, and the spaces between 

 them the internodes. 



a. In the internodes the fibres of the stem are parallel, but at the nodes this 

 order is inteiTupted in consequence of some of the inner fibres being sent off later- 

 ally into the leaf-stalk, occasioning, more or less, a jointed appearance. Hence, 

 also, each internode contains fewer fibres, and is of a less diameter than those 

 below it, so that the axis gradually diminishes upAvards. 



173. Since the branches arise from axillary buds, their ar- 

 rangement upon the stem wiU depend upon that of the leaves, 

 which, in all young plants, at least, are arranged with great 

 symmetry and order. 



174. It is a general law in the aiTangement of the leaves and 

 indeed of all other appendages, that they are disposed spimllij, 

 that is, in a hue which winds around the axis like the tlu^eads 

 of a screw. 



a. But this aiTangement is often so much disguised by disturbing causes that it 

 can scarcely be recognized. The most common modification of it is the circular, 

 which is readily explained. The spiral line is formed by the union of two 

 motions, the circular and the longitudinal. The latter is produced in the grow- 

 ing plant by the advancement or lengthening of tlie axis. Now. if the latter be 

 7 



