The Effect of Bud Position on Branch Growth and Bud Abscission in Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.

The time at which a bud began to expand was related to its position not only on an individual shoot but also within the crown. The distribution of buds and branches on the shoot was uneven; the shoot tip, where they were densely clustered, was termed the whorl; and the remainder of the shoot, where they were widely spaced, the interwhorl stem. In spring, the terminal bud started expanding before the whorl buds which preceded the interwhorl stem buds; completion of the flush of growth, determined by the end of leaf expansion, occurred in the reverse interwhorl > whorl > terminal(.)