THE STEM 233^ 



articulate = jointed (Casuarina) ; or winged (Desmodiurn tri- 

 quetrura). Its section is round in Maize, square in the Labiatse,. 

 triangular iij the Sedges, and oval in Ragi. 



2. Buds. 



The growing point of the stem is folded over by young leaves,. 

 the inner ones being more or less covered by the outer ones and 

 thus all forming a bud. The bud is, therefore, an undeveloped 

 shoot. If buds are to rest for a time, as the winter buds in cold 

 climates and the summer buds in tropical countries, they are 

 often specially protected by hairy scales. Such buds are termed 

 closed buds, in contradistinction to naked buds without such pro- 

 tective scales. (Resting buds with scales may be looked for in 

 Diospyros embryopteris, Kan. Bandha.) 



In naked buds the tender parts of the growing point are some- 

 times protected by stipules (Rose, Banyan), or by the leaf-bases 

 of old leaves (Garcinia morella, Kan. Jarige), but in most cases 

 by the blades of older leaves, folded over the younger leaves in 

 various ways (see (estivation of floral leaves). 



Moreover, each leaf is folded or packed in its bud (^vernation) 

 in a way peculiar to the plant. In the Rose and in Argyreia, 

 they are folded over their mid-rib like a sheet of note-paper; in 

 the Palmyra Palm they are folded over their several basal veins 

 like a fan; their blades are rolled from one side to the other in 

 Musa or Canna, from both edges inwards towards the mid-rib 

 in Lotus, or backwards, in Jujube, and from top to bottom in 

 the Ferns. 



Besides the terminal buds at the ends of the stems and their 

 branches, there are axilla}^ buds, borne in the axils of leaves, 

 from which branches originate eventually. x\xillary buds do 

 not all open, but sometimes remain dormant or sleeping, until 

 one day the top of the stem is cut off. Some trees, as Palms, 

 never develop any other than terminal buds. 



Young shoots are often specially protected from intense light 

 and heat by their hanging down quite limp (Mango, page 26) 

 or by placing their leaves vertically up (Banyan, Jack, page 121), 

 or by a red hue in their tender leaves (Cinnamon, page 129). 



