42 



THE LEAF-BUD. 



197. Nature op the scales. The scaly envelops of the bud appear to be either 

 the rudimentary leaves or stipules of the preceding year, formed late in the season, 

 arrested in their development by the frosts and scanty nourishment, and reduced 

 to a sear and hardened state. If the bud of the rose, tulip-tree, or horse-chestnut 

 be examined when swollen in the spring, the student will notice a gradual transi- 

 tion from the outer scales to the evident leaves or stipules within. 



67 68 



6T, Bud of currant unfolding, — the scales gradually becoming leaves, 

 scales unfolding into stipules. 



3, Bud of tulip-tree,— th» 



198. It is an interesting illustration Of designing "Wisdom that buds are fur- 

 nished with scales only in wintry climates. In the Torrid Zone, or in conservatories, 

 where the temperature is equalized through the year, plants develop their foliage 

 into buds immediately after formation, without clothing them in scales. In annual 

 plants also, the buds are destitute of scales, not being destined to survive the win- 

 ter. Hence it is evident that the transformation of autumnal leaves into scales, 

 is a means ordained by the great Author of Nature to protect the young shoots in 

 their incipient stages from sudden cold and moisture, — an office which they effect- 

 ually fulfil by their numerous downy folds and their insoluble coat of resin. 



199. How buds are protected. In many trees the bud-scales are clothed with 

 dense, downy hairs. In others, as in the horse-chestuut, balm of Gilead, and other 

 6pecies of poplar, the buds are covered with a viscid, aromatic resin, resembling a 

 coat of varnish. A considerable quantity may be separated from a handful of such 

 buds in boiling water. 



200. The parent bud. In regard to position, buds are either terminal or axil- 

 lary — a distinction already noticed. The plumule of the embryo is the original 

 parent bud, containing within its minute organization the manifold parts of the fu- 

 ture plant — stem, leaves, flower, fruit — all to be successively unfolded in future 

 months or years. The unfolding of this first terminal bud in the one direction of its 

 point produces the simple stem. 



201. Origin op branches. But in every plant a special provision is made for 

 the development of branches. It is a general law that every expanding leaf shall 

 subtend an infant bud in its axil, that is, in the upper angle of the insertion of the 

 leaf-stalk ; hence the plaut may always have as many axillarv- buds as it has leaves. 



202. Axillary buds are especially noted as being either active or 



