SECTION 4.] BUDS. 29 



wood or in the bark. Under the surface of the soil, or ou it covered with 

 the fallen leaves of autumn, similar strong buds of our perennial herbs may 

 be found ; while beneath are thick roots, rootstocks, or tubers, charged 

 with a great store of nourishment for their use. This explains how it is that 

 vegetation from such buds shoots forth so vigorously in the spring of the 

 year, and clothes the bare and lately frozen surface of the soil, as well as 

 the naked boughs of trees, very promptly with a covering of fresh green, 

 and often with brilliant blossoms. Everything was prepared, and even 

 formed, beforehand -. the short joints of stem in the bud have only to 

 lengthen, and to separate the leaves from each other so that they may un- 

 fold and grow. Only a small part of the vegetation of the season comes 

 directly from the seed, and none of the earliest vernal vegetation. This is 

 all from buds which have lived through the winter. 



54. The Arrangement of Branches, being that of axillary buds, answers 

 to that of the leaves. Now leaves principally are either opposite or alternate. 

 Leaves are opposite when there are two from the same joint of stem, as in 

 Maples (Fig. 20), the two being on opposite sides of the stem ; and so the 

 axillary buds and branches are opposite, as in Fig. 75. Leaves are alter- 

 nate when there is only one from each joint of stem, as in the Oak, Lime- 

 tree, Poplar, Button-wood (Fig. 74), Morning-Glory (Fig. 45, — not 

 counting the seed-leaves, which of course are opposite, there being a pair 

 of them) ; also in Indian Corn (Fig. 70), and Iris (Fig. 59). Consequently 

 the axillary buds are also alternate, as in Hickory (Pig. 73) ; and the 

 branches they form alternate, — making a different kind of spray from the 

 other mode, one branch shooting on one side of the stem and the next 

 on some other. For in the alternate arrangement no leaf is on the same 

 side of the stem as the one next above or next below it. 



55. But the symmetry of branches (unhke that of the leaves) is rarely 

 complete. This is due to several causes, and most commonly to the 



56. Non-development of buds. It never happens that all the buds 

 grow. If they did, there might be as many branches in any year as there 

 were leaves the year before. And of those which do begin to grow, a 

 large portion perish, sooner or later, for want of nourishment, or for want 

 of light, or because those which first begin to grow have an advantage, 

 which they are apt to keep, taking to themselves the nourishment of the 

 stem, and starving the weaker buds. In the Horse-chestnut (Fig. 72), 

 Hickory (Fig. 73), Magnolia, and most other trees with large scaly buds, 

 the terminal bud is the strongest, and has the advantage in growth ; and 

 next in strength are the upper axillary buds : while the former continues 

 the shoot of the last year, some of the latter give rise to branches, and 

 the rest fail to grow. In the Lilac also (Fig. 75), the uppermost axillary 

 buds are stronger than the lower ; but the terminal bud rarely appears at 

 all ; in its place the uppermost pair of axillary buds grow, and so each 

 stem branches every year into two, — making a repeatedly two-forked 

 ramification, as in Fig. 76. 



