RAMIFICATION. 97 



Sect. n. Ramification. 



165. Branches spring from lateral or axillary buds. These are 

 new growing points, which habitually appear, or at least may ap- 

 pear, one (or occasionally two or three) in the axil of each leaf, — 

 that is, in the upper angle which the leaf forms with the stem. (See 

 Fig. 153, c, where the point at which the fallen leaves were attached 

 is marked by the broad scar, b, just below the bud.) When these 

 buds grow, they give rise to Branches ; which are repetitions, as it 

 were, of the main stem, growing just as that did from the seed ; ex- 

 cepting merely, that, while that was implanted in the ground, these 

 proceed from the parent stem. The branches are in turn provided 

 with similar buds in the axils of their leaves, capable of developing 

 into branches of a third order, and so on indefinitely, producing the 

 whole ramification of the plant. The ultimate ramifications are 

 termed Branchlets. 



166. The arrangement of axillary buds depends upon that of the 

 leaves. When the leaves are opposite (that is, two on each node, 

 placed on opposite sides of the stem), the buds in their axils are 

 consequently opposite ; as in the Maple, Horsechestnut (Fig. 153), 

 Lilac (Fig. 154), &c. When the leaves are alternate, or one upon 

 each node, as in the Apple, Poplar, Oak, Magnolia (Fig. 155), &c., 

 the buds implicitly follow the same arrangement. Branches, there- 

 fore, being developed axillary buds, their arrangement follows that 

 of the leaves. When the leaves are alternate, the branches will be 

 alternate ; when the leaves are opposite, and the buds develop regu- 

 larly, the branches will be opposite. But the perfect symmetry of 

 the ramification, thus provided for, is frequently obscured by the 



167. Non-developmeut of some of the Buds. As the original bud of 

 the embryo remains for a time latent iij the seed, growing only 

 when a conjunction of favorable circumstances calls its life iiato 

 action, so also many of the buds of a shrub or tree may remain 

 latent for a long time, and many of them fail to grow at all. Li our 

 trees, most of the lateral buds generally reriiain dormant for the first 

 season : they appear in the axils of the leaves early in summer, but 

 do not grow into branches until the following spring ; and even then 

 only a part of them usually grow. Sometimes the failure occurs 

 without appreciable order; but it often follows a nearly uniform 

 rule in each species. Thus, when the leaves are opposite, there are 



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