20 THE PHENOMENON OE 



bud state, in reference to the period of unfolding and the 

 stage of formation ; thus, for instance, in the oak, the beech, 

 and other trees, where the leafy shoot terminates in a bud, 

 the shoot does indeed begin again with cataphyllary leaves 

 (bud-scales), and unfolds itself a year later than the pre- 

 ceding portion of the branch, but is, nevertheless, the 

 direct continuation of the axis, and therefore belongs to 

 the same sprout. So also when a flower-bud forms the 

 termination of a sprout, on which the preceding forma- 

 tions were unfolded earlier than the terminal flower, as in 

 the tulip, the ranunculus and the pseony. Hence it is not 

 the separated bud which we must regard as an individual, 

 but the entire shoot, which in these cases includes several 

 superimposed buddings. A Rejuvenescence in the 

 course of formation of the plant, is indeed expressed in 

 each production of a bud ; but we must not, therefore, 

 attribute an equal individual importance to each, for some 

 buddings belong to the individual completion of the par- 

 ticular branch fall terminal buds), while others form the 

 commencement of the new individual line of development 

 of a new sprout, as is the case in all lateral buds. If 

 individual value be attributed to the terminal buds also, 

 it will follow, in reference to the cases where the terminal 

 bud unfolds gradually, and is renewed in like progression 

 in the centre, that we must accord the rank of an indi- 

 vidual at last to every single leaf with its supporting 

 internode, since each is a specially rejuvenised Ihik of the 

 progressive development. And if we attribute an equal 

 importance in this respect to each step of Rejuvenescence, 

 we cannot stop here, for then every organ of the plant, 

 as internode and leaf, is itself again formed by a series of 

 Rejuvenescences, as we see in the cell-formation of the 

 organs; and the single cell itself finally has its own 

 periods of Rejuvenescence. Consequently, if we wish to 

 review the various gradations of the phenomena of Reju- 

 venescence in vegetable hfe, we must consider separately : 

 — 1, the Formation of Sprouts; 2, the Formation of 

 Leaves ; and, 3, the Formation of Cells. 



