18 TERMS [CH. I 



to restrict the term twig to those only which have already 

 lost their green colour and leaves, and have ceased to 

 elongate and have become woody, or, in evergreen plants, 

 to the parts which have ceased to elongate. If this is 

 accepted we may restrict the term " shoot " to the green 

 and still growing shoots of the present season. To be 

 more precise, a shoot is the still green shoot of the 

 current year, on which the epidermis is still intact and 

 from which the present season's leaves have not yet 

 fallen ; a twig is what was the shoot of last year or of 

 the year before, on which the cork or periderm is usually 

 already developed — whence the change from clear greens 

 to other hues — and in which sufficient wood is already 

 formed to give it a tough, brittle character as opposed to 

 the soft, herbaceous texture of the green shoot. It is not 

 worth while to attempt closer definition, or to apply the 

 term twig further back than the second or third year ; but 

 it is necessary to point out that if the above is accepted, 

 a large deciduous tree in its winter state has no shoots : 

 the shoots of the season have now become twigs and bear 

 winter buds, each of which may grow out into a shoot 

 next spring. In its summer condition, such a tree consists 

 of trunk, limbs, branches, twigs, and shoots, the latter 

 bearing the leaves of the season. 



Another term likely to be of use in the description of 

 trees may be borrowed from the artists — i.e. the word 

 " spray." If we define spray to mean the assemblage of 

 twigs and shoots borne by a branch, it attains sufficient 

 exactness for our purpose. Nor is this spoilt for practical 

 purposes by the qualification that, in winter, the spray of 

 deciduous trees will consist only of a series of twigs; 

 where it is necessary to enter into more detail we may 

 speak of leafy spray or spray of twigs as the case requires. 



