Remove the scales by cutting
carefully through a single pair, opposite the leaf-stalk, and peeling
them off. The scales are modified stipules, instead of leaf-stalks, as in
Horsechestnut. The outer pair are brown and thick, the inner green, and
becoming more delicate and crumpled as we proceed toward the centre of the
bud. The leaves begin with the second or third pair of scales. The first
one or two are imperfect, being small, brown, and dry. The leaves grow
larger towards the centre of the bud. They are covered with short,
silky hairs, and are folded lengthwise, with the inner surface within
(_conduplicate_). In the specimens I have examined I do not see much
difference in size between the buds with flowers and those without. In
every bud examined which contained a flower, there was an axillary bud in
the axil of the last, or next to the last, leaf. This bud is to continue
the interrupted branch in the same way as in Horsechestnut.
There are from six to ten good leaves, in the buds that I have seen. Those
without flowers contain more leaves, as in Horsechestnut. In the centre of
these buds the leaves are small and undeveloped. The flower is very easy
to examine, the floral envelopes, stamens and pistils, being plainly
discernible. The bud may also be studied in cross-section. This shows the
whole arrangement. The plan is not so simple as in Horsechestnut, where
the leaves are opposite. The subject of leaf-arrangement should be passed
over until phyllotaxy is taken up.
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