10 GENERAL BOTANY 



not need so much protection, and is almost bare. 

 But we shall generally find that, if there are no 

 leaves or bud scales, the tip is covered by a thick 

 matting of brown hairs. 



By watching the ends of the branches when the 

 buds are unfolding, we can see them actually grow- 

 ing in length, an inch or two perhaps in a week if 

 there has been rain, and we can see that a branch 

 is literally made up of internodes separated by short 

 leaf-bearing nodes. The same is true of the main 

 axis the stem and in fact of the whole shoot por- 

 tion. Any part may be considered as made up of 

 pieces, each consisting of an internode, a node and its 

 leaf or leaves, and all the pieces are practically identi- 

 cal when first formed. 



You should notice that, just below the point where 

 a side-branch arises, there is always a leaf, or, if 

 the leaf has fallen, a leaf-scar. Every branch of 

 the shoot arises in the angle between a leaf and the 

 axis, and this angle is termed the axil. Examine a 

 number of plants and note that you never find a 

 branch arising except in a leaf-axil, so that the arrange- 

 ment of the branches is dependent on that of the 

 leaves. If the leaves are alternate, the branches are 

 also alternate ; but if opposite or whorled, then the 

 branches are generally opposite or whorled. 



Now examine any branch and observe that con- 

 versely in the axil of every leaf there is, at least at 

 first, a bud. This may grow out as a branch or remain 

 a mere bud, but there is always a branch or a bud, 

 sometimes hardly larger than a pin's head, in every 

 leaf-axil. This is an important fact, for it enables us 



