ical
group consisting of a terminal bud with a whorl of subterminal buds
about its base. On multinodal branchlets the inner nodes bear lateral
buds which may be latent.

Fig. 7 represents a magnified bud of P. resinosa, first immersed in
alcohol to dissolve the resin, then deprived of its scales. This bud
contains both fascicle-buds, destined for secondary leaves, and larger
paler buds at its base. These last are incipient staminate flowers,
sufficiently developed for recognition. Such flower-bearing buds are
characteristic of the Hard Pines in distinction from the Soft Pines
whose staminate flowers cannot be identified in the bud.

The want of complete data leaves the invariability of this distinction
in question, but with all species that I have examined, the flowers of
Hard Pines are further advanced at the end of the summer. In the
following year they open earlier than those of Soft Pines in the same
locality. The staminate flowers of some Hard Pines (resinosa,
sylvestris, etc.,) are not apparent without removing the bud-scales,
but, with most Hard Pines, they form enlargements of the bud (fig. 9).

Invisible or latent buds are present at the nodes and at the apex of
dwarf shoots. The former are the origin of the numerous shoots that
cover the trunk and branches of P. rigida, leiophylla and a few other
species (fig. 10). The latter develop into shoots in the centre of a
leaf-fascicle (fig. 11) when the branchlet, bearing the fascicle, has
been injured.

The size, color and form of buds, the presence of resin in quantity,
etc., assist in the diagnosis of species. Occasionally a peculiar bud,
like that of P. palustris, may be recognized at once.

THE BRANCHLET. Plate I, figs. 12-14.

The branchlet, as here understood, is the whole of a season's growth
from a single bud, and may consist of a single internode (uninodal, fig.
12-a) or of two or more internodes (multinodal, fig. 13), each internode
being defined by a leafless base and a terminal node of buds.

The spring-shoot is uninodal in all Soft Pines and in many Hard Pines,
but, in P. taeda and its allies and in species with serotinous cones, it
is more or less prevalently multinodal.

The uninodal spring-shoot may remain so throughout the growing season
and become a uninodal branchlet. Or a summer-shoot may appear on
vigorous branches of any species with the result of converting a
uninodal spring-shoot into an imperfect multinodal branchlet. The
summer-