I 



17 



Thus in the peach the flower-buds are not at the ends of the 

 shoots, but instead are here and there along the twig in the 

 position of, and easily distinguished from, the lateral leaf-buds 

 by their larger size, extreme hairiness, etc. Not infrequently 

 there are three buds at a node and raised upon an abbreviated 

 spur, but in such cases the central one is a leaf-bud, and the 

 two lateral ones each contain a fiowGr, The apple, in some- 

 what the same manner, has lateral spurs, at the end of which 

 is a bud containing three or more immature blossoms appa- 

 rently terminating the branch, but in fact only overreaching 

 a dwarfed leaf-bud situated somewhere among them. 



In the horse-chestnut is an illustration of the center of the 

 large terminal bud being occupied by a flower-cluster which 

 when unfolded is a foot or more in length, and bearing pos- 

 sibly a hundred blossoms. This flower-cluster, at first ter- 

 minating the stem, soon takes a lateral position by the devel- 

 opment of a leaf-bud that continues the twig. 



A large number of flower-buds have been examined dur- 

 ing the past winter, both to determine the disposition of the 

 reserve substance and to make notes of the influences of the 

 warm weather. As far as the storage of starch, sugars and 

 albuminoids is concerned, it can be briefly stated that there 

 is no material difference between the fruit and the leaf buds, 

 except that the latter are usually larger, lack the light green 

 interior, characteristic of the young parts of leaf-buds, and con- 

 tain within and near them a greater supply of the albuminoids, 

 backed up by a lignified starch-bearing tissue. Not being 

 strictly terminal, the fruit-buds are well located for the immedi- 

 ate storage of starch in the w^ood and pith of adjoining parts. 



In the fruit-buds of the peach there is an interesting case 

 of the special localization of starch that has not been found 

 in those of apple, plum, cherry, quince, or in fact any other 

 blossom-buds subject to examination. Without entering into 

 a description of the peach blossom, it may be said that there 

 is a single pistil centrally located, about which the other parts 

 are disposed — the calyx as a cup bearing the stamens upon its 

 inner surface. In figure 6 a peach-bud is seen in longitudinal 

 section, wdth its upper part of fuzzy bud-scales removed, ex- 

 posing in the center of all the pistil a, and next the stamens b. 



Vol. 11,-3. 



