/ 



26 



now PLANTS (iKOW YEAR AFTER YEAIL 



when most leaves huve fallen. Even then we can tell how the leaves were placed, 

 as well as in svcmmor. We have only to notice the huf-acavs : for each fallen leaf 

 has left a scar to mark where its stalk separated from the stem. And in most 

 cases th© bud above each scar is now apparent or conspicuous, ready to ^row into 

 branches in the spring, and showin*; plairdy the arrMn<j:ement which these are to 



liave. llert', for instance, is a last year's shoot of 

 Horse chestnut (Fig. 54), with a large terminal bud on 

 its summit, and with very conspicuous leaf-scars, / ,»■ ,- 

 and just above each is an axillary bud, h. Here the 

 leaves were opposite each other ; so the buds are also, 

 and so will the branches be, unless one of the buds on 

 each joint should fail. Fig. 55 is a similar shoot of a 

 Hickory, with its leaf-scars (/ ,s') arul axillary buds 

 {!)) alfeniafc, that is, single on the joints and one after 

 another on different sides of the stem ; and these buds 

 wlien they grow will make alternate branches. 



61. The branching would be more regular than it 

 is, if all the buds grew. I^ut there is not room for 

 all ; so only the stronger ones grow. The rest stand 

 ready to take their place, if those happen to be killed. 

 Sometimes there are more buds than one from the same 

 axil. There are three placed side by side on thosG 

 sho!)t.>; of lied Maple which are going to blossom. 

 There are several in a row, one al)ove another, on 

 /some shoots of Tartarean Honevsuckle. 



•/ 



62. The appear.ance of plants, thfe amount of their branching, and the way in 

 w hich they continue to grow, depend very much upon their character and duration. 



63. The Duration of Plants of different kinds varies greatly. Some live only for 

 a few months or a few weeks ; others may endure for more than a thousand 

 years. Tiie most familiar division of plants according to their duration and 

 character is into Herbs, Shrubs, and Trees. 



64. Herbs are plants of soft texture, having little wood in their stems, and in our 

 climate dying down to the ground, or else dying root and all, in or before winter. 



65. Shrubs are plants with woody stems, which endure and grow year after year, 

 but do not rise to any great height, say to not more than four or five times the 



h 



b 



