CHAPTER V. 



GROWTH OF BUDS AND BRANCHES. 



Part of the food made by the leaves is used to form the buds 

 for next year's growth. In a dicotyledon a bud is formed in 

 the axil of each leaf, so that if all grew there would be as many 

 branches as there are leaves. Such is not the case ; many buds 

 are crowded out for want of light and air ; others lie dormant 

 low down on the branches as reserves, in case misfortune befall 

 those higher up. The tender tips of branches offer tempting 

 morsels to animals, and even after they are out of reach of 

 grazing animals their dangers are not past. A swarm of locusts 

 may pay an untimely visit, or a strong "south-easter " may 

 scorch and kill leaf and branch in the spring. 



Asparagus wraps up its summer buds with little papery 

 coverings, while the evergreen Cunonia capensis ^ L.^ protects its 

 bud by the large stipules of the pair of leaves below. Oaks and 

 poplars have retained the fashion that prevails in their cold 

 native climate of wearing thick coverings which protect from 

 wet and loss of water on sunny winter days when the roots are 

 taking up little water or none. 



Some buds contain both leaves and blossoms snugly tucked 

 away together. Others contain only leaves or only blossoms. 

 When the poplars border the streams with a delicate violet 

 tinge, they are just shaking out their fringes of flowers to the 

 breezes. They have been getting ready for the display for 

 many months. Fig. 41 shows at a the flower-buds of a branch 

 picked in December. They are well along towards next 



^ Cunonia capensis, Linn. (Red Alder, Dutch Roode Els) is a tree with 

 opposite pinnate leaves and dense racemes of greenish-white flowers 

 found by streams throughout the Colony and Natal. 



36 



