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Already is his colony augmented by six new guests, domesticated in his house; already, on every side, his seeds are peeping out of the ground under the most favorable auspices; his young trees, firmly rooted, are growing rapidly beneath the double influence of heat and moisture; at the axil of some of their leaves, he sees a bud, an earnest of the harvest.
Leaves alternate, with very short petioles, at the base of which is a pair of short spines, and a small tuft of wool in the axil; blade 3 in. long by 2 in. broad, soft, fleshy, shining green. Flowers semi-transparent, white, in terminal panicles; sepals and petals ¾ in. long by ¼ in. wide; stamens in a large, spreading cluster, white, with yellow anthers.
When the reader remembers that every dormant bud in early spring is a possible branch, and that even the immature buds at the axil of the leaves in early summer can be forced into immediate growth by pinching back the leading shoot, he will see how entirely the young tree is under his control.
The first one or two are imperfect, being small, brown, and dry. The leaves grow larger towards the centre of the bud. 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 shoot bore leaves on the 2/5 arrangement; in the axil of every leaf was a bud, the strongest buds being with the strongest leaves at the middle and top of the shoot; in the autumn of 1920 these leaves fell, but the buds remained, persisted the winter, and were ready to "grow" in the early spring of 1921. In 1921 these buds on No. 1, then, would have grown.
The papaw fruit resembles a rock melon somewhat in shape and flavour, the fruit being produced in the axil of the leaves all along the main stem, where they are clustered thickly together. The tree does best on well-drained soils, and is very sensitive to the presence of clay or stagnant water at the roots, hence it usually does best on scrub land or land well supplied with humus.
The careful cultivator who wishes to throw all the strength and growth into the main shoot will pinch these laterals back as soon as they form one leaf. Each lateral will start again from the axil of the leaf that has been left, and having formed another leaf, should again be cut off.
Flower. The most characteristic feature of the Angiosperm is the flower, which shows remarkable variety in form and elaboration, and supplies the most trustworthy characters for the distinction of the series and families or natural orders, into which the group is divided. Except where it is terminal it arises, like the leaf-shoot, in the axil of a leaf, which is then known as a bract.
At last, in the axil of one of the leaves there comes a little bud that does not unfold into a leaf but into a flower. The appearance of this first blossom on the plant the child has himself raised from the seed will be watched with eagerness, and its advent can be made a subject of general pleasure and notice in the home.
They have many dots on them. From each leaf-scar runs an irregular line around the stem. This has been left by the stipules. The flower-scar is on the summit of the axis, and often apparently in the axil of a branch, as in Horsechestnut. Sometimes the nearest axillary bud is developed; sometimes there are two, when the branch forks.
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