Branch initiation, basal

Jerusalem artichoke stems can grow to 3 m or more in height, though most clones are shorter. Dwarf clones have been selected (Zubr and Pedersen, 1993). The stems are stout and heavily trichomed when young. Initially the stems are quite succulent but become woody over time. Branches vary in number and position on the main stems. The stems arise directly from the seed tuber, with branches forming at nodes on the stem. Basal branches may form underground and at the soil surface appear to be stems hence, estimates of stem number per plant are variable. 

In mosses like F. hygrometrica and Physcomitrium sphaericum, bud initials arise as side branches, either from the caulonema cells directly or from the basal cell of the 2° chloronema or caulonema filaments [6, 27, 28]. Prior to caulonema formation, buds are also induced with low concentrations of cytokinin on chloronema cells in Physcomitrella patens [18]. Mutants.of this moss which form buds exclusively on chloronema have also been reported [19]. 

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