NODE AND INTER.\OUE<. 7i 



•ome or all of tbeui are tleveloped, forming- leafy divisions of tlie axis, wliieli llius 

 ))ecomes branched. 



b. Buds are said to be advtntitious when they are neither tenninal nor axillary. 

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

 ing or disease, and may be foiTiied in the internodes, 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 axillary bud. 



171. A TiiORN, 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 develojjment of the growing point only, while its leafy coverings perish. 

 Some plants which naturally produce thorns become thornless by cultivation. 

 In such cases the buds are enabled, by better tillage, to 2:>roduce branches instead 

 of thorns. Ex. apple, pear, goosebeiTy. 



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

 its connection with tlie 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 axillaiy 

 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 interrupted 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 intcrnodc contains fewer fibres, and is of a less diameter than those 

 below it, so that the axis gradually diminishes upwards. 



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

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

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

 s^nnmctry and order. 



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

 indeed of all other appendages, tlmt they are disposed spirally, 

 that is, in a line which winds around the axis like the threads 

 of a screw. 



a. But this an-angcment is often so much disguised by distiu-bing causes that it 

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

 which is readily explained. The sjiiral line is fonned by the union of t^vo 

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

 ing plant Ijy tlic advancement or lengthening of the axis. Now, if the latter be 

 7 



