136 PRACTICAL COURSE IN BOTANY 
exemplified by the buckeye, horse-chestnut, jimson weed, 
mistletoe, and dogwood (Fig. 155, A). 
Draw a diagram of the buckeye, or 
other dichotomous stem, as it would be if 
all the buds developed into branches, and 
compare it with your diagrams of excurrent 
A : : 
and deliquescent growth. Draw diagrams 
to illustrate the branching of the elm, 
beech, lilac, linden, rose, maple, or their 
equivalents. 
153. Definite and indefinite annual 
ie wee C. growth. — The presence or absence of ter- 
ose ee aS minal buds gives rise to another important 
pointed bodies in the distinction in plant development — that 
forks shows whereter- of definite and indefinite annual growth. 
minal flower buds or ‘ c 
flower clusters have Compare with any of the twigs just 
eon oe direction examined, a branch of rose, honey locust, 
sumac, mulberry, etc., and note the differ- 
ence in their modes of termination. The first kind, where 
the bough completes its season’s increase in a definite time 
and then devotes its energies to developing a strong 
terminal bud to begin the next year’s work with, are said 
to make a definite or determinate annual growth. Those 
plants, on the other hand, which make no provision for 
the future, but continue to grow till the cold comes 
and literally nips them in the bud, are indefinite, or in- 
determinate annual growers. Notice the effect of this habit 
upon their mode of branching. The buds toward the end 
of each shoot, being the youngest and tenderest, are most 
readily killed off by frost or other accident, and hence new 
branches spring mostly from the older and stronger buds 
near the base of the stem. It is their mode of branching that 
gives to plants of this class their peculiar bushy aspect. 
Such shrubs generally make good hedges on account of their 
thick undergrowth. The same effect can be produced arti- 
ficially by pruning. 
