Terminal Bud in the Coco-nut Palm. 449 
a lateral, by means of which growth is continued to take the place of the 
diseased central shoot 5 (p. 66). 
‘ The prevailing idea that growth is no longer possible if the central 
shoot is killed must now be considered a fallacy, though it must be 
admitted that healthy growth is not immediate even if lateral shoots are 
produced ’ (p. 66). 
‘ This cannot be regarded as any proof of the cause of the rotting of 
the bud tissues, no more than the death and falling of the central leaves in 
our experiments can be considered as proving the rotting of the central 
bud ’ (p. 68). 
As regards what may be considered the most important conclusion 
from the purely botanical point of view, that the terminal bud of the coco-nut 
palm can be replaced by a lateral, evidence has already been adduced 
which would appear to afford another explanation of the phenomenon 
observed. It does not appear from their paper that Sharpies and Lambourne 
dissected the palm in question and ascertained the origin of the supposed 
lateral bud. Further, as they intimate that they do not consider that the 
death of the central shoot in their experiments proved the rotting of the 
central bud, there would not appear to be any reason for supposing that 
the original growing-point had ceased to function. 
The other conclusions depend mainly upon terminology, and on inter¬ 
pretations of the existing literature on the subject of Bud-rot. If the 
organism which causes a decay of the unfolded leaves is the same as that 
which causes a rot of the growing-point, the two phenomena must be 
regarded as different phases of the same disease, and the same name may 
be applied to both. But the decay of the leaf-spike only has not been 
regarded as ‘ Bud-rot ’ in coco-nuts in Ceylon. The statement, to which 
currency appears to have first been given in Ceylon, that the withering of 
the spike is ‘the first indication of the disease 5 in true Bud-rot in the case 
of young palms cannot be interpreted as meaning that all cases of withering 
of the spike are cases of Bud-rot. 
Sharpies and Lambourne quote from Circular 15, vol. iii, of the 
Royal Botanic Gardens, Ceylon : ‘ The first indication of the disease in the 
case of young plants is the withering of the youngest unfolded leaf. This 
turns brown and can be pulled out of its sheath; it is then found to end in 
a soft brown mass. 5 But farther on in the same paragraph of that circular 
occur the words: ‘ If the dying fronds are removed and the bud exposed, 
there will be found, instead of the white cabbage, a pale brown semi-liquid 
mass which becomes dark brown with age and possesses an odour resem¬ 
bling that of a tan-yard. In an advanced stage this rot includes the whole 
of the cabbage, and stops only when the woody portion of the stem is 
reached. Only the soft parts are affected. The roots and stem are quite 
healthy, but the destruction of the terminal bud necessarily causes the 
death of the tree. 5 
