24 
HOW PLANTS GROW YEAR AFTER YEAR. 
of the preceding one. There are old trees even, which consist of a simple, un¬ 
branched stem. Palm-trees, such as our Southern Palmetto (Fig. 79) are of this 
kind. But more commonly, as stems grow they multiply them¬ 
selves by forming 
53. Branches, or side-shoots. These are formed both by 
roots and by stems. Roots generally branch much sooner than 
stems do. See Fig. 4, 20, 30, &c. 
54. Roots send off their branches from any part of the 
main root, or start from any part of a stem lying on or in the 
soil; and they have no particular arrangement. 
55. But the branches of stems spring only from particular 
places, and are arranged on a regular plan. They arise from 
the Axil of a leaf and nowhere else, except in some few pe¬ 
culiar cases. The axil (from a Latin word meaning the 
armpit) of a leaf is the hollow or angle, on the upper side, 
where the leaf is attached to the stem. As branches come 
only from the axils of leaves, and as leaves have a perfectly 
regular and uniform arrangement in each particular plant, the 
places where branches will appear are fixed beforehand by the 
places of the leaves, and they must follow their arrangement. 
In the axils, commonly one in each, branches first appear in 
the form of 
56. Buds. A Bud is an undeveloped stem or branch. If 
large enough to have its parts distinguishable, these are seen 
to be undeveloped or forming leaves; and large buds which 
are to stand over winter are generally covered with protect¬ 
ing scales, — a kind of dry, diminished leaves. 
57. Terminal Bud. So the plumule or first shoot of the 
embryo (see Fig. 22, &c.) is a bud. But this first bud makes 
the main stem, and its growth, week after week, or year after 
year, carries on the main stem. Palms (as Fig. 79) grow in this way, by this bud 
only. Being always on the end of the stem, that is, terminating the stem, it is 
called the Terminal Bud. 
58. Axillary Buds. But the buds which are to form branches appear on the 
sides of the stem; and since they are situated in the axils of the leaves, as just ex- 
