Tree Study 809 



2 . Look at the leaves. How many come off the stem between two, one 

 of which is above the other: 1 Is the midrib velvety? What is its color at 

 base and at tip ? What is the shape of the petiole where it joins the stem ? 

 Remove the leaf. What do you find hidden and protected by its broad 

 base ? 



3 . How many leaflets are there on the longest leaf which you can find ? 

 How many on the shortest ? Do the leaflets have little petioles, or are they 

 set close to the midrib? How does the basal pair differ from the others? 

 Are the leaflets the same color above as below!" Are the pairs set exactly 

 opposite each other ? Look at the three leaflets at the tips of several leaves 

 and see if they are all regular in form. Draw a leaflet showing its base, its 

 veins and its margin. Draw an entire leaf, and color it as exactly as 

 possible. 



4. Study the fruit. Pick one of the bobs and note its general shape. 

 Is it smooth or bunchy !" Sketch it. Remove one of the little bunches and 

 find out why it is of that shape. Remove all of the seeds from one of last 

 year's bobs and see how the fruit is borne. Sketch a part of such a bare 

 stem. 



5. Take a single seed ; look at it through a lens and describe it. What 

 are the colors ? Cut or pare away the flesh, and describe the seed. What 

 birds live on the sumac seeds in winter? How many kinds of insects can 

 you find wintering in the bob!" Find a seed free from insects and taste it. 



Winter study of the Sumac 6. Study the sumac after the leaves have 

 fallen and sketch it. What is there peculiar in its branching!" Of what 

 use to the plant is its method of branching !" Break a branch and look at the 

 end. Is there a pith!" What color is the wood and pith!" 



May or June Study of the Sumac 7. Where on the branch does the 

 new growth start !" How are the tiny leaves folded ? Look over a group of 

 sumacs and see if their blossoms all look alike. Are the different kinds of 

 blossoms found on the same tree or on different trees? Take one of the 

 white pyramidal blossom clusters ; look at one of these flowers with a lens 

 and describe its sepals and petals. How many anthers has it and where are 

 they? This is a pollen-bearing flower and has no pistil. How are its tiny 

 staminate flowers arranged on the stem to give the beautiful pyramid 

 shape? This kind of flower cluster is called a panicle. 



8 . Take one of the green bobs and see if it is made up of little round 

 flowers. Through a lens study one of these. How many sepals!" How 

 many petals? Describe the middle of the flower around which the petals 

 and sepals clasp. Is this the ovary, or seed box? Can you see the stigmas 

 protruding beyond it !" What insects visit these flowers? 



9. How can you tell the velvet or staghorn sumac from the smooth 

 sumac ? How can you tell both of these from the poison sumac ." 



10. To what uses are the sumacs put!" 



"/ see the partridges feed quite extensively upon the sumach berries, at my old house. 

 They come to them after every snow, making fresh tracks, and have now stripped ninny 

 bushes quite bare." 



-THOREAU'S JOURNAL, Feb. 4, 1856. 



