230 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



leaves are on stout footstalks, which are two or three inches 

 long, very downy and grayish green at first, but becoming nearly 

 smooth and purple. At the base of the leaf, the footstalk sub- 

 divides by throwing out two opposite ribs, nearly as large and 

 long as the mid-rib, each of which has a large branch below, 

 dividing the leaf into five imperfect lobes, and giving it a pen- 

 tagonal outline. The ribs and veins are very prominent on the 

 under surface, and each terminates in a large tooth. When 

 freshly expanded, the leaves are profusely covered with a cot- 

 tony down, which gradually disappears, and in autumn the 

 upper surface is perfectly smooth, and of a light yellowish 

 green; the under surface is lighter and still covered with down 

 along the prominent purple ribs and veins. A striking feature 

 in the appearance of the button wood is formed by the very 

 large, conspicuous, and persistent stipules, with which every 

 growing branch is garnished. These are always leaf-like, some- 

 times distinct, one on each side of the base of each leafstalk, 

 oftener grown together, forming a complete ruffle, encircling 

 and more than encircling the branch, and embracing it with a 

 sort of sheath. When distinct, they are two or three inches 

 long, an inch and a half broad, pointed, and, like the leaves, 

 conspicuously toothed. When grown together, they look like 

 a leaf whose extreme point is on the side of the branch opposite 

 the leaf of which they are an appendage. Above them, espe- 

 cially at the base of a branchlet, is often found an additional 

 pair of lance-shaped stipules, or a single one, tw<9 or three inches 

 long. Both these kinds of stipules are, on the vigorous shoots, 

 particularly on the sprouts from the stole or root, more lasting 

 than the leaves, not being pushed off, like them, by the growth 

 of the buds. The leaves are usually five or six inches long, and 

 seven or eight broad, but they are often much larger. Before 

 falling, they turn usually to a pale yellow. 



The buds are short, broad, pyramidal, rounded at the tip, and 

 of a chestnut brown, when they have been a little while exposed. 

 They are enveloped by several gummy scales, and, in their 

 early stage, enclosed in the footstalk of the leaf, which is there- 

 fore necessarily deciduous. Each bud and the base of each 

 branchlet is accordingly surrounded by the scar of a fallen leaf, 



