388 CONSERVATIVE ORGANS. [lECT." VIII. 



whence, passing up, they distribute bundles to 

 each of the leaves, which appear now completely 

 organized, although extremely small and com- 

 pressed within the scales of the bud. As the sea- 

 son advances, the bud lengthens ; and at the mo- 

 ment of its opening, the young branch is seen 

 stretching forwards clothed with its leaves, which 

 gradually unfolding themselves, display in their 

 axillae the rudiments of future buds, destined to 

 run the course which has just been described; 

 and become in their turn the parents of another 

 series. 



If the young' branch be now dissected, it is 

 found to possess exactly the same structure as the 

 stem in the early stage of its growth ; that is, to 

 consist of a central pith turgid with fluid, sur- 

 rounded by the medullary sheath, around which 

 the spiral vessels appear in distinct longitudinal 

 bundles ; and beyond them a layer of semior- 

 ganized alburnum, bounded by the liber : the 

 vascular fasces of the bark are embedded in the 

 cellular integument, and the whole enclosed by 

 the epidermis, which at this period is generally 

 covered with excretory glands or some kind of 

 pubescence. But after the leaves have expanded 

 and performed their functions for some time, if 

 the branch be again examined, by carrying a lon- 

 gitudinal section into the stem, we perceive its 

 alburnum, now fully organized and continuous 



