CAE EER: XA 
THE FOREST TREES OF GREAT BRITAIN 
IN this chapter, as in the two preceding it, we shall have 
to deal with a single group selected on other lines from 
those which we have followed hitherto. Instead of look- 
ing to the flowers, and to methods of reproduction as the 
test of classification, we are now going to take the much 
simpler guide of size. Botanically, the elm and the 
nettle, the sweet-briar and the mountain-ash, have in- 
timate connections, but from our present point of view 
we shall censider only those flowering plants which grow 
to great proportions. The reason why I emphasise this 
point is that I want you to realise that there is no sharp 
dividing line between our trees and the rest of the English 
plants. The Juniper, which we know as a bush merely, 
takes a more prominent place elsewhere, and so does the 
low-growing alder. 
What I propose to discuss here is the outward appear- 
ance of those various trees of ours, and how you can 
tell one from the other, in winter and in summer. 
First we will take the plants, or trees, which bear 
cones. In Chapter XI. we noted the chief character- 
istics of the various groups, but we will just go through 
them here again for the sake of completeness. 
The true Firs are easily recognised by their leaves and 
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