Terminal Bud in the Coco-nut Palm. 
447 
them out easily from the sheath. In one case the rot had reached the 
central axis, but the bud itself was not damaged. In both cases, however, 
the direction of growth of the bud was changed from the vertical to the 
horizontal, and the buds had pushed their way through the leaf-bases to 
the exterior. A photograph of the palm with the leaves removed from one 
side is given in Fig. 2. This shows the curved bud and a rotting leaf-base 
immediately behind it. A drawing of the longitudinal section through the 
bud and axis is given in Fig. 3, from 
which it is evident that the bud, though 
projecting through the leaf-bases and 
apparently lateral in position, is the 
original terminal bud. 
It may be concluded that a diseased 
condition of the central leaves causing 
them to fall over does not neces¬ 
sarily connote the death of the palm, 
i. e. it is not necessarily true Bud-rot. 
This conclusion was also reached by 
Sharpies and Lambourne as a result of 
their inoculation experiments on coco-nut 
palms. 
Sharpies and Lambourne found that, 
as a result of inoculating coco-nut palms 
with a red pigmented bacillus, the central 
shoots of the inoculated palms became 
black and decayed, and ultimately fell 
over, as is common in Bud-rot cases. 
These palms eventually recovered in a 
peculiar manner. The authors give 
a figure showing the type of recovery, 
of which they say, ‘ The central shoot 
- 1 • 1 r 1 Fig. 2. The same, with the leaves removed 
has disappeared, but from the side of the from one side. x -|. 
bud below the remains of the central 
shoot a lateral shoot is pushed out. The leaves comprising this lateral 
shoot were strangely aborted, the leaflets being very stiff and only partially 
developed. Growth of this lateral shoot continues and it takes the place 
of the central shoot.’ 
The figure given shows a young palm with a developing bud projecting 
from the side of the stem. It is similar in many respects to that given here 
in Fig. 1, except that the bud is further developed, with young leaves 
expanded. The outer leaves of the buds of the Ceylon specimens were 
abnormal, having no leaf-blades and consisting solely of thick leaf-bases. 
It might therefore be expected that the further development of these buds 
