“As buds give rise by growth to fresh buds,” Darwin wrote, and those buds grow to be twigs, and those twigs grow to be branches, some vigorous, some feeble, some thriving, some dying, “so by generation I believe it has been with the great Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and broken branches the crust of the earth, and covers the surface with its ever branching and beautiful ramifications.” There’s a nice word: ramifications.
