26 
HOW PLANTS GROW YEAR AFTER YEAR. 
when most leaves have fallen. Even then we can tell how the leaves were placed, 
as well as in summer. We have only to notice the leaf-scars: for each fallen leaf 
has left a scar to mark where its stalk separated from the stem. And in most 
cases the hud above each scar is now apparent or conspicuous, ready to grow into 
branches in the spring, and showing plainly the arrangement which these are to 
have. Here, for instance, is a last year’s shoot of 
Horsechestnut (Fig. 54), with a large terminal bud on 
its summit, and with very conspicuous leaf-scars, Is; 
and just above each is an axillary bud, b. Here the 
leaves were opposite each other; so the buds are also, 
and so will the branches be, unless one of the buds on 
each joint should fail. Fig. 55 is a similar shoot of a 
Hickory, with its leaf-scars (l s ) and axillary buds 
(5) alternate , that is, single on the joints and one after 
another on different sides of the stem; and these buds 
when they grow will make alternate branches. 
61. The branching would be more regular than it 
is, if all the buds grew. But there is not room for 
all; so only the stronger ones grow. The rest stand 
ready to take their place, if those happen to be killed. 
Sometimes there are more buds than one from the same 
axil. There are three placed side by side on those 
shoots of Red Maple which are going to blossom. 
There are several in a row, one above another, on 
some shoots of Tartarean Honeysuckle. 
62. The appearance of plants, the amount of their branching, and the way in 
which they continue to grow, depend very much upon their character and duration. 
63. The Duration of Plants of different kinds varies greatly. Some live only for a 
few months or a few weeks; others may endure for more than a thousand years. 
The most familiar division of plants according to their duration and character is 
into Herbs , Shrubs, and Trees. 
64. Herbs are plants of soft texture, having little wood in their stems, and in our 
climate dying down to the ground, or else dying root and all, in or before winter. 
65. Shrubs are plants with woody stems, which endure and grow year after year, 
but do not rise to any great height, say to not more than four or five times the 
