BUDS 



37 



4. Buds. — The stems and leaves of all flowering plants originate 

 from buds in the manner indicated above ; buds may therefore be 

 termed embryonic or incipient shoots. It is by their growth that 

 trees, which appear so bare in winter, become clothed with fresh 

 green leaves in the succeeding spring. The relationship which 

 they bear to the leaves and stems produced by them is easily 

 discerned by examining the structure and watching the develop- 

 ment of the terminal bud of a young sycamore tree (Fig. 16). 



On the outside is observed a series of scaly leaves, which 

 overlap each other, 

 and protect and cover 

 up the delicate grow- 

 ing point of the twig. 

 A section through the 

 bud (Fig. 12) shows 

 the disposition of 

 these scaly leaves 

 and within are also 

 seen the ordinary 

 leaves (/) arranged 

 upon a very short 

 stem (s). In spring 

 the inner scaly leaves 



grow for a time (a, Fig. 12. — Longitudinal sec- 

 _. . J . . tion of a terminal bud of a syca- 



rlg. 13)) and Ultl- more tree as seen in autumn, a. 

 . ^ .. re 1 bud-scales ; J rudimentary stem, 



mately lali Orr, leav- with foliage-leaves /; i lateral 

 11 1 buds ; / pith. 



mg small scars where 



they were attached to the twig. The stem (s), which bears 

 the rudimentary green foliage-leaves (/), elongates, and the latter 

 are pushed out from between the protective scaly leaves of 

 the bud (Fig. 13). After a week or ten days, the stem has 

 reached a considerable length, and the leaves, which were rudi- 

 mentary and packed away in the bud, unfold themselves and 

 grow out flat as in Fig. 14. 



., -Terminal bud 

 of sycamore, similar to 

 that of Fig. 12, develop- 

 ing in spring, n bud- 

 scales ; / foliage-leaves ; 

 d lateral bud. 



