Buds and stems are the building blocks of the aboveground portions of a tree. A bud includes the precursors for leaves and stems, and is protected by bud scales. These leave a ring of scars when they fall, which can be used to track annual growth.
A stem has a node (where leaves are attached), as well as internodes (in-between nodes) that give the stem/tree height and length. You may also find structures in the leaf axil between a leaf and its node.
I categorized buds based on their location and "activity status":
- Apical/terminal: at the tips of shoots
- Lateral: on the sides of shoots
- Axillary: in the leaf axil
- Adventitious: random, without pattern (not at nodes)
- Dormant: waiting for next season to begin growth
- Latent/epicormic: dormant bud that didn't grow out, but is growing slightly each year to remain under the bark
Terms: bud; adventitious bud, apical bud, lateral bud, axillary bud, terminal
bud; node, internode, leaf axil, epicormic
