106 



LETTERS ON TREES. 



5. Turn then to Letter VIII., and read again what I 

 have there quoted from M. Richard as to the views 

 of M. Du Petit-Thouars regarding the nature and 

 capacities of the hud, literally rendered into Enghsh, 

 the passage is as follows ; — 



The buds give origin to shoots or young branches furnished 

 with leaves and most commonly with flowers. Each bud has 

 in a manner an existence independent of that of the others. 

 M. Du Petit-Thouars considers them as analogous in their 

 development and then* structure to the embryos enclosed in 

 the interior of the seed, which, by the act of germination, 

 develope a young twig, which may justly be compared to the 

 shoot produced by the evolution of a bud. Accordingly, to 

 these last he gives the name of fixed or adherent embryos^ in 

 opposition to that offree embryos — reserved for those embedded 

 within the seed " * 



M. Du Petit-Thouars, you will perceive, maintains^ 

 in the first place, that of the several buds on a tree, 

 each one is virtually independent of every other bud — 

 each having an independent existence of its own ; in 

 the second place, that in its development and structure, 

 the bud is analogous to the embryo contained in the 

 seed ; and, in the third place, that the young plant 

 which issues from the embryo within the seed is ana- 

 logous to the young shoot which proceeds from the 

 bud. The analogy, in respect both of the seeds and 

 buds themselves, and of their respective produce, is, in 

 his view, as perfect as it is possible to be — amounting 



^ Richard, Op. Cit. p. 103. 



