Bud (plant)

“ The production of a flower is preceded by an arrest of vegetation; this is obvious: the current of the plant's life becomes changed, the growth of the leaves is checked, the lengthening of the branches is arrested as the flower-bud forms; moreover, there is a close relationship in a large majority of flowers between the outer envelopes of the flower and the scales of a leaf-bud; this is especially so in regard to the venation, and is admitted by all morphologists. So far, then, it may be said that the production of a flower, like that of a bud, is due to a diminution of vegetative action ”

“ But it is true that the conditions in which a bud grows render it liable to extrinsic ills not incidental to a plant springing from seed. A seed, emitting its roots directly into the earth, is liable only to its own ills; a bud or graft emitting roots, through the alburnum of the stock on which it is established, into the earth, is subject to the infirmities of the stock as well as to its own. Thus a healthy seed produces a healthy plant. A healthy bud may produce a feeble plant, because inoculated upon a diseased branch or stem. ”

“ It is manifest, then, that the plant which springs from a bud is as really a new plant as that which springs from a seed; and it is equally true, that a seed may convey the weakness and diseases of its parent with as much facility as a bud or a graft does. ”

“ In ordinary trees, in which there is provision made for the formation of numerous lateral buds, any injury done to a few branches is easily repaired; but in palms, which only form terminal buds, and have no provision for a lateral formation of them, an injury inflicted on the terminal bud is more likely to have a prejudicial effect on the future plant. In the trees of temperate and cold climates the buds which are developed during one season lie dormant during the winter, ready to burst out under the genial warmth of spring. ”

“ A flower-bud dies, when it has perfected its seed, like an annual plant, and hence requires no place on the bark for new roots to pass downwards; but on the contrary leaf-buds, as they advance into shoots, form new buds in the axilla of every leaf, which new buds require new roots to pass down the bark, and thus thicken as well as elongate the branch, now if a wire or string be tied round the bark, many of these new roots cannot descend, and thence more of the buds will be converted into flower-buds. ”

“ At the same time every bud on a shoot has the capacity to form a new plant if placed in suitable conditions, as the horticultural practice of propagation by cuttings shows; in nature we see Vegetative reproduction.plants spreading by the rooting of their shoots, and buds we know may be freely formed not only on stems but on leaves and on roots. Where detachable buds are produced, which can be transported through the air to a distance, each of them is an incipient shoot which may have a root, and there is always reserve-food stored in some part of it. In essentials such a bud resembles a seed. ”

“ Although roots proceed usually from the base of the stem or stock, they may also be produced from the base of any bud, especially if the bud lie along the ground, or is otherwise placed by nature or art in circumstances favourable for their development, or indeed occasionally from almost any part of the plant. ”

“ This strange little plant will grow very rapidly when put into any sweet watery substance. It sends out a bud which grows larger and larger until in a half hour the bud is as large as the old plant. It may then break loose and grow other buds, just like the mother plant. ”

“ If covered before this sign of readiness appears, the tip merely decays. If a variety is very scarce, we may cover not only the tips, but also much of the cane, lightly—an inch or two—with earth, and each bud will eventually make a plant. ”

“ The bud disappears when the blossom breaks through, and we might say that the former is refuted by the latter; in the same way when the fruit comes, the blossom may be explained to be a false form of the plant's existence, for the fruit appears as its true nature in place of the blossom. These stages are not merely differentiated; they supplant one another as being incompatible with one another. ”

“ As each bud contains in itself the rudiments of a plant, and would, if separated from its parent vegetable, become in all respect s similar to it, Linnæus, to shew the wonderful fertility of Nature, has made a calculation, from which it appears, that in a trunk scarce exceeding a span in breadth, no less than ten thousand buds may be produced. ”

“ Plant Characters and Growth Habits of the Grape
A grape plant is a complex organism with its many separate parts especially developed to do one or a few kinds of work. The part of a plant devoted to one or a group of functions is called an organ. The chief organs of the plant are the root, stem, bud, flower, leaf, fruit and seed. Flowers and leaves, it is true, develop from buds and the seeds are parts of the fruits, [Pg 301] but for descriptive purposes the vine may well be divided into the parts named. ”

“ A new leaf is sent up every year from the tip end of the root-stock, and the old, dropping off, leaves a sear, which is the "seal." Buds formed on these underground stems are protected from too great changes of temperature by a few inches of soil. Those buds that lie on the surface must be protected by the dead leaves which fall in autumn. They, the buds, are the real "babes in the wood," you see.
Our baby bud, just like children, must have nourishment as well as protection in order to grow in spring. This is provided by the thick leaves that cover, or by the stem, or in some other way. ”

“ A week spent in the rich soil and hot, humid atmosphere of the forcing-house causes the bud to swell and begin to grow. In ten days it is seen to have really made some appreciable growth. At the end of fourteen days the creamy-white, tightly-folded foliage leaves and the tip of the flower-stem are seen to have developed, the leaves broadening out somewhat about the eighteenth day. In twenty-one days the still folded leaves have gained a delicate, pale greenish hue, and the flower-buds have begun to make themselves plainly visible upon the flower-stem. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is of the highest importance to understand that a bud is simply the young state of a shoot, and that it consists of the growing-point of the shoot enveloped by closely-folded leaf structures. In the oak the buds are already formed before the end of June, and on looking closely into the axils of the leaves on the young shoots—which have by that time ceased to elongate to any considerable extent farther—they may be seen as small, green, hairy bodies. ”

“ By this means the bud is, as it were, planted in the bark of the tree.
The worsted must not be bound exactly over the bud, or it might bruise or break it. The bud should have the appearance of peeping out between the turns of worsted. When the operation is finished it can be left a week or two, and by that time you will know whether it has taken or not by the appearance of the bud. As soon as you are sure that it has taken, the ties or worsted can be loosened, not taken off; they may want relaxing several times as the little bud swells and grows. ”

“ A more common practice, called budding, or inoculating, is to insert a bud of one tree, accompanied by a portion of its bark, into the bark of another, and the tree which is thus engrafted upon is called the stock. By this mode different kinds of fruits, as apples, pears, plums, &c., each of which is only a variety accidentally raised from seed, but no further perpetuated in the same manner, are multiplied, buds of the kind wanted to be propagated being engrafted on so many stocks of a wild nature. ”

“ The largest bud grows on top. This is where the beautiful flower cluster that comes out in May lies hidden.
The smaller buds that grow lower down the stem hold only leaves. You see that these buds grow in pairs, one bud opposite another, and always above a sort of scar on the twig. This scar was made last fall by the breaking-off of a leaf.
Perhaps you fancy that these buds have only just made their appearance.
Fig. 129
If you have any such idea as that, you are quite wrong. ”

“ That from which a stem with its leaves is continued, or a new stem (i. e. branch) originated, is a Bud. The most conspicuous and familiar buds are those of most shrubs and trees, bearing buds formed in summer or autumn, to grow the following [Pg 13] spring. But every such point for new growth may equally bear the name. When there is such a bud between the cotyledons in the seed or seedling it is called the Plumule. This is conspicuous enough in a bean (Fig. 29.) , where the young leaf of the new growth looks like a little plume, whence the name, plumule. ”

“ The body c has lost its leaves through some accident, and its growth has ceased. In other words, the parts at aaaa are like the shoot fh, except that they are shorter, and they are of the same age. One grew from the end or terminal bud of the main branch, and the others from the side or lateral buds. Parts or bodies that bear leaves are, therefore, branches.—The buds at bbbb have no leaves, and they remain the same [119] size that they were a year ago. They are dormant. The only way for a mature bud to grow is by making leaves for itself, for a leaf will never stand below it again. ”

“ Those buds which have been formed near the surface of the soil, grow up into shoots provided with leaves; but the shoots are long, slender and delicate, the leaves too are stunted into little scales; in their axils, however, they develop strong buds, which either in the same or in the following year take root, and the slender shoot connecting them with the parent plant, dying and decaying, they become free independent plants. ”

“ If you look close at the figure, you will see small projecting points at the roots of the leaves. These represent buds, which you may find, most probably, in the shoot you have in your hand. Whether you find them or not, they are there—visible, or latent, does not matter. Every leaf has assuredly an infant bud to take care of, laid tenderly, as in a cradle, just where the leaf-stalk forms a safe niche between it and the main stem. The child-bud is thus fondly guarded all summer; but its protecting leaf dies in the autumn ”

“ It is the common practice to draw a budding-knife over the strings, on the side opposite the bud, completely severing them and allowing them to fall off as they will. If the strings are left on too long they will constrict the stem and often kill the bud, and they also have a tendency to cause the bud to “break” or begin to grow. The bud should remain perfectly dormant until spring, for if it should begin to grow it will be injured and perhaps killed by the winter. ”

“ By their more rapid growth than the stem, they reach above the growing-point, and, folding over each other, cover it more or less completely. As the stem elongates, the leaves upon the older portion are gradually separated, and an ordinary stem, with its leaves arranged at regular intervals, results. A bud is simply a young stem, with its undeveloped leaves. A developed stem is a series of similar parts, those parts being a leaf with a portion of the stem above and below it, each borne upon its predecessor, and in turn bearing the next one in the series. ”

“ And who will take the time to look, will find the young bud there;
The young bud nestled snug and warm against the winter's cold;
The young bud being sheltered by the knowledge of the old.
And when the spring shall come again—and gentle turns the day,
The youthful bud will swell with strength and thrust the old away;
The youthful bud will seek the breeze and hunger for the sun,
And down to earth will fall the old with all its duty done. ”

“ That summer the bush was heavy with leaves, still there was but a single bud, a noble one, though, plump as a strawberry, and with as deep a red breaking through the green leaves. I loved to watch the bud swell day by day. Every morning I went out while the dew was heavy upon it, and saw the leaves part softly, as if they were afraid of the sunshine.
"One morning, just as this bud was opening itself to the heart, I found Mr. Leicester bending over the bush, tearing open the poor rose with his fingers. ”

“ As the tips frequently fall upon the expansion of the flower, in many species, the bud is the only sure situs whence to determine this character. It is increased from seed, procured from female plants only, which are much more unfrequent than the male; likewise from the roots, which, (like to those of most of the species forming this link of the Genus,) are tuberous ”

“ The root and a little of the lower stalk is from a seed, and upon this has been grafted or spliced with soft bands and wax, a bud from some choice kind of peach or apple or plum, or whatever the tree is to be, and this new bud grows and forms the tree. Sometimes a bud of the choice kind is merely inserted beneath the bark of another tree and grows and forms a new limb. By and by, when it bears fruit, the fruit will be of the kind that was on the choice tree, but the seed, though it looks just the same, may be altogether different. ”