1-4 THE GUELDER ROSE. 



RAMIFICATION. 



The buds on the Guelder Rose vary in size as greatly as the 

 twigs which bear them. The twigs are either tipped with a pair 

 ot knob-like buds, or carry one large bud flanked by two smaller 

 ones at the ape.v, while lower down are tound one or two pairs of 

 opposite lateral buds, lying close against the axis. 



It has already been explained that in some trees the terminal 

 bud does not develop, but the growth of the twig is continued bv 

 the lateral buds ; and again that the development of a flower stops 

 the further growth of a twig at that point. In the Guelder Rose 

 it is usually the terminal bud which produces a flower and exhausts 

 itself in the effort. Hence the branches often end on a V-shaped 

 fork, with the withered flower-stalk in the angle. Sometimes one twig 

 of the fork dies and the remaining one forms an obtuse angle 

 with the parent stem [\). Or again, the whole upper portion 

 of the shoot dies back and growth is continued from the lower 

 part. Thus, in spite of the formal grouping of the buds, the general 

 arrangement of the branches is singularly irregular both in angle and 

 direction. 



Round the stumps from which twigs have fallen away new buds 

 form, and the enlargement at the nodes which results from this is 

 another distinguishing feature of the species. The manner of growth 

 just described is chiefly noticeable in the smaller branches, the main 

 stems often continue to some height in an unbroken line, the ter- 

 minal bud having, in this case, carried on the upward growth. The 

 lateral buds wither away, but the bareness ot the lower stems for 

 some distance above the grouiul is partially concealed by the young 

 plants springing up on all sides. 



