86 Principles of Plant Culture. 



Section IX. The Buds. 



127. The Buds. Bach tip of the stem (66) is in most 

 plants protected with a covering of rudimentary 

 leaves or leaf -scales, and the tip with its leafy or scaly 

 covering constitutes a hud. A bud forming the apex 

 of a shoot is called a terminal bud; one 

 at the junction of a leaf with the stem 

 (axil) is called an axillary or lateral bud 

 (Fig. 37). 



Each bud generally includes one ter- 

 minal and several axillary growing points. 

 Aside from these, which in the stem exist 

 only in the bud, a bud is simply a part of 

 the stem in which the leaves and inter- 

 nodes are in the embryo stage. 

 Fig. .37. Buds. In most perennial plants, the rudimen- 



L, lateral buds. ^ -^ ' 



(After Barry.) tary leaves that form near the latter end 

 of the growing season are changed into bud-scales, which 

 serve to protect their growing points from excessive 

 moisture and sudden changes in tempcFature. Axil- 

 lary buds which have not yet expanded, are clothed 

 with similar scales. Buds inclosed with scales are often 

 called ivinter buds. To more effectually shut out water, 

 the scales are coated with a waxy or resinous layer in 

 some plants, as the horse-chestnut and balm of Gilead, 

 and to protect them from too sudden changes of tem- 

 perature, they are lined in other plants, as the apple, 

 with a delicate cottony down.* 



*A vertical section of fhe onion bulb may be used as a magnified 

 illustration of a bud as it appears in winter, and that of a bead of 

 cabbage, of a bud unfolding in spring. 



