THE SEEDLING AND YOUNG PLANT. 51 



vertically above the bud i. e., the sixth leaf up the 

 stem. Knowing this, we of course know how the 

 branch is joined to the stem. Several other small 

 strands also are formed, as at z, to complete the filling 

 up the gap, and these may be called completing bun- 

 dles. These connecting and completing bundles en- 

 able the young shoot as it develops from the bud to 

 inclose its own pith in a cylinder of vascular tissue con- 

 tinuous with that of the parent shoot. 



We thus see that the vascular bundles form a con- 

 nected system in the leaves, buds (i. e., young branches), 

 and stem, and it only remains to add that they are 

 joined below to those of the root-system, with which, 

 in fact, they took origin in the very young embryo. 

 Hence, if we were to remove the whole of the softer 

 tissues of the oak -plant, we should have a model of it 

 left in the form of a more or less open basket-work of 

 vascular bundles. It is necessary to bear this in mind, 

 as some important conclusions follow from it subse- 

 quently. 





