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LECTURE VIII. 



ORIGIN AND ATTACHMENT OF BRANCHES; STRUC- 

 TURE OF LIGNEOUS ROOTS; AND OF HERBACE- 

 OUS DICOTYLEDONOUS STEMS. 



WHETHER we regard branches merely as divi- 

 sions and subdivisions of the stem, or more cor- 

 rectly, at least as far as regards their origin,, as 

 distinct individuals, its lateral progeny, we find 

 their structure to accord in every particular with 

 that of the stem. The description of the struc- 

 ture of the trunk is consequently applicable to the 

 branches ; and we have now, therefore, only to 

 investigate the nature of the connexion between 

 these parts : tracing the branch from its earliest 

 state, or long before it is visible to the eye, till 

 it is fully extended, and has itself become the 

 parent of future branches. 



Every branch is formed in a bud or gem ; and 

 every bud, except perhaps the terminal one, and 

 such as appear on roots, and constitute suckers, 

 originates in the axilla of a leaf*; to trace, there- 

 fore, the origin of the branch, is in fact to trace 



* Some buds, as, for example, those of the Plane and the 

 Sumach, are generated in the centre of the base of the foot- 

 stalk of the old leaf; but this is a mere modification of the 

 axillary bud. 



