74 THE OAK. 



occupies the center; around this, arranged in a close 

 spiral, are several young rudiments of foliage leaves, 

 each consisting of meristem, the cells of which are 

 undergoing divisions. The youngest leaf is next the 

 apex of the cone i. e., the order of development is 

 acropetal and each is folded with the upper surfaces 

 of each half in contact ; two extremely minute stipules 

 accompany each leaf. Lower down on the cone come 

 the numerous (about thirty) overlapping scales, and be- 

 tween several pairs of the upper of these the male in- 

 florescences develop. The female inflorescences are 

 developed in the axils of two or three of the above- 

 described true leaves in a terminal bud ; they are not 

 normally formed in the lateral buds of the shoot (see 

 Chapter IX). 



All the leaves of the shoot may have such buds 

 formed in their axils during the summer, but only some 

 of them develop in the following spring ; it is the buds 

 in the axils of the lower leaves of the shoot which 

 usually come to nothing. 



The normal course of events is that the bud-scales 

 (stipules) become dry, and the protected growing-point, 

 with its rudimentary leaves and flowers, passes into a 

 dormant condition lasting through the winter; but it 

 is a very common event, especially in a wet autumn 

 following a dry, hot summer, to find the winter buds 

 beginning to shoot out in August, and not passing into 

 the prolonged state of dormancy. Such shoots are 

 known as Lammas shoots. In some districts the oak 



