Most catts have three (or more) growth nodes per pseudobulb. The primary lead is the one that continues to grow to maturity if all conditions are right.
The secondary lead waits for the primary to be mature and then it grows as the new primary lead the following season (or if the primary lead fails, the secondary takes over if it is early enough in the season).
The third growth node (or dormant eye) is a back up in case both primary and secondary leads fail.
There are times when a healthy plant will activate both primary and secondary (and even the dormant eye) all at the same time. This produces the "branching" of the rhizome and increases the pseudobulb count of the plant.
These three nodes exist on each pseudobulb, so obviously the more pseudobulbs you have attached together, the better chances of a plant recovering from injury or infection.
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