The Replacement of the Terminal Bud in the 
Coco-nut Palm. 
BY 
I 
T. PETCH, B.A., B.Sc., 
Botanist and Mycologist, 
AND 
C. H. GADD, B.Sc., 
Assistant Mycologist, Ceylon. 
With three Figures in the Text. 
I N the valuable contribution to our knowledge of Bud-rot in coco-nuts 
by Messrs. Sharpies and Lambourne in this Journal, vol. xxxvi, 
pp. 55-70, cases are described in which, according to the observations of the 
authors, it appeared that the terminal bud had been destroyed and that 
growth had subsequently occurred from a lateral bud. Assuming that 
deduction to be correct, the phenomenon would be parallel to the normal 
condition in dicotyledonous trees, in which the loss of the leader is generally 
followed by the development of shoots from lateral buds, one of which 
shoots may ultimately form a continuation of the original main axis. 
As is well known, branching does not normally occur in the coco-nut 
palm. On the young palm, nothing develops in the leaf axils, while on the 
older trees each leaf subtends an inflorescence. Rare occurrences of branched 
coco-nut palms have been recorded, but, in view of the normal habit and 
structure of the tree, it is generally assumed that such cases arise from 
a division, probably accidental, of the terminal growing-point. No one 
appears to have had an opportunity of verifying that assumption, and it is 
doubtful whether such opportunity could ever happen, as, owing to the slow 
unfolding of the leaves, many months must elapse before the branching- 
becomes evident. Instances of virescence, i. e. the conversion of the 
inflorescence into an axis bearing abnormal leaves, are not uncommon, but 
these abnormal inflorescences die, just as they would ultimately have done 
had they borne flowers. 
Consequently, the idea that the terminal bud of the coco-nut palm may 
be destroyed, and be subsequently replaced by a lateral bud, is a novel one 
which, in the absence of complete evidence, can only be regarded as 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XXXVII. No. CXLVII. July, 1923.] 
