ii06 VEGETABLE ORGANOGRAPHY. 



gate : tlien one of two things happens ; either, as 

 in most of our herbaceous Liliacese, the floral stem 

 entirely perishes ; or, as takes place in the woody Lili- 

 aceas, the stem remains, the uppermost buds are deve- 

 loped and form true branches, several of which spring 

 from the upper part of the stem. It is in this m.anner 

 that the ramifications of Yucca, Dracaena, Sec. are 

 formed. I am inclined to believe that it is the same cause 

 which produces the bifurcation of Hyphcene coriacea, 

 which, in my opinion, bifurcates from a cause analogous 

 to that which takes place in the Lilac and Chestnut. 



The terminal decapitation of Endogenous stems, pro- 

 duced either by accident or by the flowering, appears to 

 me the clearest of the causes of the ramification of several 

 of them ; but there are ramifications of Endogens which 

 cannot be explained in this mamier. 



Thus we sometimes see buds and lateral branches 

 developed in the lower parts of trunks ; for example, 

 towards the base of the stems of Yucca, or of the Date 

 Palm, most frequently near the neck. It is very likely 

 that these buds are favoured in their development either 

 by the humidity of the soil, or by the slight stagnation 

 of the descending sap which takes place at the neck. 

 The origin of these adventitious buds is very obscure in 

 Endogens; but if we think a little, it is not better 

 known in our Exogenous trees, where this phenomenon 

 is very frequent. Finally, there are Endogens where 

 the axillary buds are developed with the greatest faci- 

 lity, although there is no appearance of any stagnation 

 of the sap in the neighbouring parts ; this, for example, 

 takes place in Asparagus, Ruscus, &c. It is perhaps 

 worthy of remark, that in the Asparageae, which are 

 much branched, the true leaves are abortive, and are 

 reduced to simple scales : is it on account of this abortion 

 of the leaf that the bud is developed ? I think so, 



