ON THE INTERIOR BUDS OF ALL PLANTS. 5 



wood of trees, that is horizontally. The wood therefore 

 made way for them. But no sooner do they begin to run up 

 the stem, than the wood vessels instead of forming a covered 

 way for them, opens and receives them within their aper- 

 tures. A picture of one of the vessels extremely magnified 

 will give an idea of their formation, see fig. 3 : K K are the 

 vessels through which passes the sap ; L the interior vessels 

 containing the buds; M the albumen, which always appears 

 above and round the buds. All the buds are tied together Buds distm- 

 as in seeds, see fig. 4. The sap vessels, though forming fjJ'^'^'^^^J^J'/ 

 only a part of the new cylinder, are much larger than in the leaves. 

 trees. When the buds rise to the top of the stem or axilla 

 of the leaf, where they are to flower, several of the squares 

 join together, and form one sort of flower bud; which after- 

 ward divides into umbels. 



But all the plants that shoot their buds from the root, and All buds shoot- ▼ 

 have flower stems, have not their buds crossing the stem roLdo^^t^ 

 in this manner. In the greatest number of herbaceous cross the stem 

 plants, the buds runs up the interior of the wood vessels to i" this manner, 

 the place where they are to shovy themselves ; that is, to the 

 top of the plaiit, or the axilla of the leaf: and are not seen 

 till they get there, Yet take a pretty thick cutting of any 

 of these plants, and keep it a few hours, and you will see the 

 buds growing out of the vessels exactly as the buds of silver 

 or lead grow it) the arbor dianae, or saturni under your eye. 

 It was by. such a piece of the plant that I discovered how 

 the buds crept up the interior of the wood vessel, and rer 

 niained so long concealed. 



I shall now turn to the third division, which embraces Bud how 

 grain and grasses of every kind, that possess the peculiar ^'"'■'"^^'"g''^'" 

 band or knot, which is perfectly unlike every other con- ^"^ ^'^^'^^^' 

 trivaiice in the vegetable world. It exceeds indeed any yet 

 shown; but I fear that at every new proof of this exquisite 

 performance, one must have neither soul nor feeling not to 

 become an enthusiast on the subject, when contemplating 

 such wonders; beholding such astonishing productions. As 

 there is no stalk properly so called, the dilierent parts of the 

 plant are collected in the flat leaf of the grass. Thus the bark, 

 the inner bark, the wood, and the line of life, are all possessed 

 of stripes in the leaf. How then can the two sorts of buds 



be 



