Ill] ABORTED BUDS 29 



gation is arrested by their conversion into inflorescences, 

 and the same occurs normally in the Mistletoe. 



In the Elms, Lime, and some other trees, it is the rule 

 in this country for the true terminal bud to be suppressed, 

 and the axillary bud beneath it then swells and takes its 

 place, the remains of the destroyed bud being only visible 

 on careful examination. Similar cases occur in the Hazel, 

 Hornbeam, Birch, Robinia, Cercis, and some Willows. 



These suppressions of buds have an obvious bearing on 

 the form of branching of the tree concerned, and this is 

 still more strongly marked in the very common cases 

 where certain axillary buds are always suppressed, here 

 and there {Philodendron, Liliaceae, Graminese), or at the 

 base of the shoot (Oak, Beech, &c.), or even all over 

 {Papaya, Palm). Such suppressed buds may be caused 

 to develop further if an accident causes them to receive 

 more supplies of water and nutritive materials than they 

 would normally receive, as may be well seen in the 

 development of the buds in the axils of the cotyledons 

 of the Broad Bean if the plumule is destroyed, though 

 otherwise they come to nothing. 



The arrangement of the leaves and scales in the bud 

 is so characteristic in some cases that sections may be 

 employed for diagnosis e.g. Ash and Sycamore. 



The characters afforded by the winter buds and leaf- 

 scars are largely employed by foresters in order to deter- 

 mine the species of deciduous trees in winter. Conifers 

 and evergreens are not usually included in such schemes 

 of classification, as they are more easily determined by the 

 foliage : nevertheless we shall find interesting cases here 

 also. Stipular scars are often observable by the side of 

 the leaf-scars with a good lens. 



Having thus indicated the general characters of the 

 bud, we may now proceed to further details. 



