164 



FIRST STUDIES IN PLANT LIFE 



have now to see how trees and other perennials get 

 ready for next spring. If you look at the place where 

 a leaf is joined to the stem, you will find a bud. It looks 

 as if it were hiding between the leaf-stalk and the 

 stem. In these buds are wrapped up the shoots or the 

 flowers of next year. Even in early spring you can 

 see the tiny buds in which lie hid the shoots and 

 flowers of the following spring! Twelve months 

 before they are needed, the tree begins to get them 

 ready. All through the summer they grow, and by 

 autumn-time they have swollen so much that they 

 help to push off the leaves that have guarded them 

 against cold and heat. 



Have you ever noticed how well the rose leaf 

 protects its bud ? 



ij. How young buds are protected. Pluck a 

 rose leaf and you will see that the 

 base of the leaf-stalk is winged. 

 These wings for protecting the bud 

 are called stipules. Not every 

 plant has stipules, and some that 

 have stipules soon lose them. In 

 others, like the rose and the 

 common garden pea, the stipules 

 do not fall off, but remain to 

 protect the new bud. When 

 stipules are absent, you will often 

 find that the leaf-stalk is hairy or 

 broadened out at the base so as to 

 protect the little bud. Sometimes, 

 as in the bougainvillea, a thorn serves the same 

 purpose. By the time the leaf falls and the bud is 

 left bare, it is hardy enough to bear the night-cold. 



Compound leaf of rose, 



■with stipules protecting 



tlie young bud. 



