Structural Organization of the Shoot Apex and Axillary Bud in Slipper Spurge (Pedilanthus tithymaloides Poit.) I

The slipper spurge (Pedilanthus tithymaloides) is a small cactus-likeherbaceous plant. The shoot apex has a single tunica layer andsometimes the second layer also simulates it. There is a centralmeristem zone whose significance could not be determined. Thefirst bud meristem differentiates at the second node. The earliestbud meristem has a procambium but no shell zone was observed.The node is trilacunar. There are three bud traces and threeprophyll traces. The single prophyll is situated at right anglesto the subtending leaf.