240 
M. C. Stopes. 
prepared to spend a long time dormant. The outer scales are very 
hard and spiny and the inner, unfolding ones are covered with dense 
hair. They reach a considerable size, double that shown in Fig. 9 
(iv) before they unfold the small green foliage leaves (cf. Fig. 14, b 
and c) which appear in the development of active buds, but these 
are laid down while they are still about the size of the “ bud ” in 
Fig. 9 (ii). 
Many of the small “buds” show signs of having been vegetating 
between the leaf bases for a long time, and their outer scales are 
much blackened and dried up. Such a one is shown in Fig. 13 cut 
in longitudinal section. This diagram shows the small fresh apex s 
and the old scales behind it which have become very thick and 
fleshy. The latter are filled with starch at the base, and the 
decaying tips are cut off by several successive zones of cork, c. 
The power to cut off almost any part of its tissue and grow 
behind the separating layer is a remarkable feature of the Cycads. 
Solms Laubach 1 noted the persistency of the leaf-bases, and figured 
some which are cut off by three successive layers of cork ; while 
even the seeds will continue to grow 2 when the internal aborting 
portions are cut off by a corky layer. This power serves the “ buds” 
in good stead and enables them to linger on almost indefinitely. 
These buds have so far been described merely as phenomena 
interesting in themselves. Their real importance, however, lies in 
the fact that they appear to be the clue to the real nature of most 
of the “ branching ” in Cycas. Without overlooking the possibility 
of other methods of branching, the behaviour of the buds makes it 
clear that probably the great majority of “branched” plants are 
simply those in which one or more of these adventitious “ buds ” 
developed from the leaf-bases, had grown till it rivalled the main 
axis. Such plants as the one figured in Fig. 14 are exceedingly 
common in Japan, and show the stages of the process. 
The Japanese pot specimen figured by Wieland ( loc . cit.) in his 
Fig. 10, p. 39, as a hoso-type will be now recognised as an excellent 
example of the branch-forming growth of these buds. While such 
plants are much cultivated by Japanese gardeners, they also nip off 
the buds and grow them as independent plants. 
Once my attention was attracted to these buds 1 found that 
1 Solms Laubach, Graf zu. “ Die Sprossfolge d. Stangcria u. d. 
iibrigen Cycadeen.” Bot. Zeit., 1890, cf. p. 226, Taf. II., 
Fig. 2. 
1 Stopes, M. C. “ Beitriige z. Kenntnisd. Fortpflanzungsorgane 
d. Cycadeen,” Flora, 1904, cf. p. 446 and 453. 
