BUDS ON STEMS. 35 



lowest scale-leaves of the branch, it is not even possible in most cases to detect so 

 much as a swelling that might be construed into the rudiment of a new bud. It is 

 not till a longitudinal section is made through the lowest part of the branch that 

 one perceives the existence of buds, here, too, in a very rudimentary condition and 

 buried in the cortical tissue. The large buds to be seen at the close of the first year 

 about the middle and at the extremity of the branch develop next year into fresh 

 branches, the lower parts of which are again clothed with bud-scales, and the upper 

 paxts with foliage-leaves; but the small, inconspicuous or invisible buds at the base 

 of the first year's shoot are left undeveloped and completely dormant. They are 

 preserved practically unaltered in size or shape at the spots where they originated 

 within the cortex, in some cases showing above the surface, in others concealed by 

 the outer coats of the bark; and the only change which takes place is that the 

 bundles leading from the wood of the branch to the dormant buds elongate yearly to 

 the extent of the thickness of the new woody ring. These bundles exhibit the same 

 disposition as those within the shoots which are visible on the surface, and so far, 

 we might look upon them as latent lateral axes or side branches imbedded in the 

 wood of the main branch and terminating in dormant buds. The analogy is 

 confirmed by the fact that the lateral axes buried in the wood are capable of rami- 

 fying in the same manner as those which project beyond the periphery of the stem 

 and send their branches out into the air. The rudiments of fresh buds may also be 

 formed on the concealed branchlets within the wood of the continually thickening 

 main axis; and in many trees densely-branched structures terminating in dormant 

 buds are formed in the wood of the stem, and exercise a disturbing influence on the 

 course of the surrounding tubes and fibres of the wood of the main stem, causing 

 them to bend and twist about to a very great extent. In this manner knobs of 

 various sizes are formed, composed of the branched latent shoots which terminate in 

 dormant buds and of winding wood-fibres. These nodules are found interspersed 

 amongst the elements of the wood, which pursue a normal course, and they are 

 known as "bird's eyes". Sections of such bird's-eye timber were much in demand 

 some decades ago for use as veneering in cabinet-making, owing to the curious 

 traceries exhibited by them, which usually take the form of eyes surrounded by 

 rings and of serpentine lines — the former corresponding to latent branches, the 

 latter to sinuous wood-fibres. 



As already mentioned, in many trees and shrubs it is particularly the buds 

 pertaining to the axils of the lowest leaf-structures that are kept back in a dormant 

 condition. A striking deviation from this habit is exhibited by the Tamarisks 

 (Tamarix). The young branches, covered with innumerable little leaves and an 

 assemblage of buds — usually three in number — are formed in the axil of each leaf. 

 Want of space would of itself be sufficient to make it impossible that all these buds 

 should produce shoots in the following year and develop simultaneously; about a 

 thousand lateral branches would in that case be produced simultaneously from an 

 axis little over a metre in length. As a matter of fact only comparatively few of 

 the buds produce shoots, and these are so aptly distributed that no one of them 



