liOTANICAL SL'iiJECTS. 243 



XII.— CAKPELS, PLACENTAS, OVULES, BUDS, 

 EMBRYOS, AND SPORES. 



Axillary Bud and Ovulk. 



We see the axillary bud, either dormant or aetive, almost 

 universally in phcenogams. Is this organ a new creation in 

 phaeuogams, or is it derived from forms which are lower down in 

 the scale of organization ? There is nothing corresponding to it 

 in cryptogams.* What, therefore, can be its genesis in ph^eno- 

 gams, and what its object ? 



As to the object, next to the seed, which is only progeny 

 capable of variation or not, according to circumstances, the bud 

 proper appears to be of the greatest importance in the struggle 

 for existence. 



By the axillary bud persisting on the permanent stem and 

 being capable of renewing or resuscitating the plant next season, 

 that same individual can continue its existence, and be ready again 

 to transmit quickly to its progeny any useful inherited feature. 

 If the seed alone remained to transmit any good accumulated 

 qualities, it is evident that it might perish from not finding 

 suitable conditions for its development. Moreover, the seed is an 

 independent and often variable bud,f and thus, even if it found 

 a place and succeeded in germinating and developing, it might 

 not inherit the useful qualities already accumulated by the 

 parent. On the contrary, the axillary bud has a place already ; 

 it does not require to search for suitable food, because its parent 



* Except perhaps in Aspleninm decussatnm and similar ferus, vide 

 Fig. 159, " Goebel's Outl. of Classif." 



t Variable when the ovule has been pollinated, but otherwise probably 

 not (that is parthogenetic). 



A p. 1724. . Q 2 



