184 BUDS AND STIPULES 



CHAPTER VII 



ON THE SUBSIDIARY USES OF STIPULES 



THE general use of stipules is, as we have seen, to 

 cover and protect the bud. This is, however, by no 

 means the only function they perform. Though very 

 often leafy, they are generally 

 too small to be of much use as 

 organs of assimilation. 



There are, however, various 

 gradations. Some, indeed, are 

 quite minute, as in the Holly 

 (fig. 308) and Hymenanthera 

 (fig. 29, p. 24). 



FIG. 308. -SHOOT OF HOLLY, V 



showing successive leaves In other cases, though smal- 



ler than the leaf-blades, the stip- 

 ules assist in performing similar 



functions. In some the assimilation must be trifling, 

 as in the stipulate species of Helianthemum, in Ribes, 

 and many others ; in others it is substantial, though 

 less than in the leaf-blades, as in the Roses ; in others 

 equal to that of the leaf- blades, as in the Pansy (fig. 309), 

 where the stipules are large, oblong, and pinnatifid, with 

 three to six linear lobes on the external side ; or Galium 



