The Elements of Botany, For Beginners and For SchoolsGray, Asa
Science
The Elements of Botany, For Beginners and For Schools
Gray, Asa
Plants
_Scaly buds_; those which have protecting scales, which are altered
leaves or bases of leaves.
_Leaf-buds_, contain or give rise to leaves, and develop into a leafy
shoot.
_Flower-buds_, contain or consist of blossoms, and no leaves.
_Mixed buds_, contain both leaves and blossoms.
61. =Definite annual Growth= from winter buds is marked in most of the
shoots from strong buds, such as those of the Horse-chestnut and Hickory
(Fig. 72, 73). Such a bud generally contains, already formed in
miniature, all or a great part of the leaves and joints of stem it is to
produce, makes its whole growth in length in the course of a few weeks,
or sometimes even in a few days, and then forms and ripens its buds for
the next year's similar growth.
62. =Indefinite annual Growth=, on the other hand, is well marked in
such trees or shrubs as the Honey-Locust, Sumac, and in sterile shoots
of the Rose, Blackberry, and Raspberry. That is, these shoots are apt
to grow all summer long, until stopped by the frosts of autumn or some
other cause. Consequently they form and ripen no terminal bud protected
by scales, and the upper axillary buds are produced so late in the
season that they have no time to mature, nor has their wood time to
solidify and ripen. Such stems therefore commonly die back from the top
in winter, or at least all their upper buds are small and feeble; so the
growth of the succeeding year takes place mainly from the lower axillary
buds, which are more mature.
63. =Deliquescent and Excurrent Growth.= In the former case, and
wherever axillary buds take the lead, there is, of course, no single
main stem, continued year after year in a direct line, but the trunk is
soon lost in the branches. Trees so formed commonly have rounded or
spreading tops. Of such trees with _deliquescent_ stems,--that is, with
the trunk dissolved, as it were, into the successively divided
branches,--the common American Elm (Fig. 80) is a good illustration.
[Illustration: Fig. 80. An American Elm, with Spruce-trees, and on the
left Arbor Vitæ.]
64. On the other hand, the main stem of Firs and Spruces, unless
destroyed by some injury, is carried on in a direct line throughout the
whole growth of the tree, by the development year after year of a
terminal bud: this forms a single, uninterrupted shaft,--an _excurrent_
trunk, which cannot be confounded with the branches that proceed from
it. Of such _spiry_ or _spire-shaped_ trees, the Firs or Spruces are
characteristic and familiar examples. There are all gradations between
the two modes.
Section V. ROOTS.
65. It is a property of stems to produce roots. Stems do not spring from
roots in ordinary cases, as is generally thought, but roots from stems.
When perennial herbs arise from the ground, as they do at spring-time,
they rise from subterranean stems.
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