104 BUDS AND STIPULES 



increase in length. After about ten of such scales the 

 little leaf-blade becomes much larger, and the leaf-base 

 smaller, in proportion (see fig. 160). 



PORTUGAL laurel (Prunus lusUanica) 



The bud-scales of the Portugal Laurel are also leaf- 

 bases. They are serially continuous with the leaves. 

 The first scale covers less than half the bud and 

 overlaps the second slightly at the base. It presents 

 three points at the apex, or rather two points with a 

 blunt process between them. These are the rudiments 

 of the petiole and stipules. The second scale is longer, 

 but otherwise not materially different. The third scale 

 attains the full length of the bud, the petiole being 

 more acuminate than in the previous scale, and longer 

 than its stipules. The fourth scale is precisely similar, 

 and covers more than half of the bud. All the stipules 

 are ciliate and serrulate. 



The fifth scale is shorter, and much more rounded 

 at the base. It covers three-quarters of the bud or 

 more. The sixth and seventh scales are smaller and 

 shorter than the previous ones, and cover the bud, with 

 the exception of a small slit at the base, where the edges 

 of the stipules do not come in contact. 



At the eighth node in the terminal bud examined the 

 first true leaf occurred. It was small, subulate, slightly 

 conduplicate, but colourless, and much shorter and 

 narrower than its green and ciliate-serrulate stipules. 



