LOCATION AND STRUCTURE OF BUDS 41 



protect the true leaves and flowers within. These scales never 

 develop into true leaves. The examination of the buds of many 

 of our plants in the spring will show a gradual graduation from 

 scales on the outside to well-formed leaves on the inside. (Fig. 

 13.) These outside scales are frequently covered with masses 

 of plant hairs (trichomes) or with wax or have the appearance of 

 being varnished. These structures serve as a protection against 

 the entrance of water which would cause great damage, espe- 

 cially during the winter season. Many of the plants of warm 

 climates and some of the plants of temperate climates have 

 naked or nearly naked buds ; that is, buds that have very little 

 or no protection from the climatic conditions. 



Buds are also classified with reference to their location on 

 the stem. Those at the tip are apical or terminal, while those 

 on the sides are lateral. Lateral buds may be opposite or alter- 

 nate. When lateral buds are directly in the angle formed by 

 the stem and leaf they are axillary, but when to one side or above 

 they are called accessory. Buds borne on other parts of the 

 stem, on the roots and on the leaves are known as adventitious; 

 they are of the greatest importance in the propagation of plants 

 by cuttings. 



A plant cannot produce food for the growth of all of its leaf 

 buds into shoots and, therefore, many buds perish, but some 

 of them remain dormant and many later develop into the well- 

 known sucker or water shoots. Such growths are very common 

 on trees that have been over-pruned, or broken by storms. If it 

 were possible for all the buds to grow, all our trees would as- 

 sume the characters of very dense hedge plants. The tendency 

 of some plants, such as the privet and osage-orange, to produce 

 a very large number of shoots increases their value as hedge 

 plants and ornamentals. 



The growth of shoots from the buds may be definite or in- 

 definite. The definite annual growths are those in which the 



