Term (also known as bud or gemma in botany) for the youthful state of a new shoot. On vines, the eye is located in the leaf axils on the nodes of one-year-old shoots, which is why it is also known as the axillary bud or axillary bud. The so-called winter eye (winter bud) consists of lignified bracts that are stacked in several layers and envelop the primary, already pre-differentiated plants of the new shoot that will sprout the following year.
The shoot segments of the shoot axis can already be recognised in miniature form, with the laterally angled anlagen for leaves (foliage), tendrils (attachment organs) and inflorescences (pistils). The cavities in the bud are filled with fine woolly hairs so that the shoot is protected from physical injury, frost and moisture during the winter dormancy period until budding in spring. The diaphragm (wooden bridge) is located at the nodes.
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