Fig. 4. Modelling branching on 1‐year‐old trunks of ‘Reinette Blanche du Canada’ using a hidden semi‐Markov chain. Each state, corresponding to a branching zone, is represented by a circle. Transient states are edged by a single line while the final state is edged by a double line. The possible transitions between states are represented by arcs with the attached probabilities noted nearby (for legibility, only transitions with probabilities exceeding 0·02 are shown). Thick arcs entering states indicate initial states. The attached initial probabilities are noted nearby. The occupancy distributions are shown above the corresponding states, as are the possible lateral types observed in each state. Each lateral type is represented by a symbol: 0, latent bud; 1, proleptic spur; 2, proleptic long shoot; 3, bourse; 4, sylleptic shoot.