48 THE FLOWERING PLANT. 



duces a weakly terminal shoot, or it may, so to speak, be jostled 

 out of existence, when a false dichotomy results. On the other 

 hand, where the leaves are scattered, i.e., placed singly on the 

 nodes, the terminal bud may be replaced by the axillary bud 

 of the last leaf. Take, for example, a well-grown shoot of 

 elm. The current year's growth may be recognised by its 

 greenish colour and the presence of the ring of scars at its base. 

 The end of the shoot is occupied by a bud, apparently terminal. 

 It is really, however, situated in the axil of the last leaf, and at 

 its base, opposite the leaf, is a small scar, formed by the death 

 of the terminal bud. Similarly, the current year's shoot is itself 

 developed from an axillary bud. Just below the ring of scars is 

 a crescentic mark, showing where the corresponding leaf fell off. 

 Opposite this is a little rounded projection, where last year's 

 terminal bud was attached. The same reasoning applies to still 

 older parts. We have, in fact, to deal with a sympodium (p. 24), 

 though the main branches are developed racemosely. The same 

 remark applies to birch, beech, hazel, and other forms. It 

 must be carefully noted that facts like these are not obvious. 

 Very careful examination of shoots in different phases of growth is 

 necessary to verify them. The definite yearly increase described 

 above takes place chiefly in trees and shrubs with well-protected 

 scaly buds. Cases like the elm, where the ends of the shoots 

 perish, lead on to the numerous plants in which indefinite growth 

 takes place in the summer, without formation of strong buds near 

 the ends of the shoots, as a provision for the following year. 

 Here (as, for example, in the rose), the later part of the annual 

 growth perishes in autumn, and the axillary buds of the older 

 part expand into leafy shoots the next spring. Owing to this, 

 many shrubs branch very irregularly. A further stage is seen 

 in perennial herbs, where all overground parts die down an- 

 nually, and are succeeded by outgrowths from buds belonging 

 to the underground portion of the stem. 



The statement made on p. 44, that corms and bulbs are thick- 

 ened underground buds, will now be more clearly understood. 

 The main corm or tuber produced yearly (as well as the smaller 

 ones) is an axillary bud. It may be taken as a general rule that 

 where one of two correlated organs is much and rapidly enlarged, 

 the other will be correspondingly reduced. Thus, in a corm, the 

 stem is very much thickened, while the leaves are very small, 

 and conversely for a bulb. Bulbils (p. 44) are axillary buds with 

 small thickened leaves. 



Lateral buds, as we have seen, are typically axillary, and it 

 sometimes happens that more than one bud is produced in an 

 axil. These accessory buds may be placed side by side or one 



