IN QUEST OF FLOWERS 43 



climb the tree to different heights and haul up axe and camera 

 from one to another by means of a rope. The wood of Tetracen- 

 tron is brittle, and the knowledge of this does not add to one's 

 peace of mind when sitting astride a branch about 4 inches 

 thick with a sheer drop of a couple of hundred feet beneath. 

 However, all went well, and we drank in the beauties of this 

 extraordinary tree. The distinctive beauty of Davidia is in 

 the two snow-white connate bracts which subtend the flower 

 proper. These are always unequal in size, the larger usually 

 6 inches long by 3 inches broad, and the smaller 3|- inches 

 by 2|- inches ; they range up to 8 inches by 4 inches and 

 5 inches by 3 inches. At first greenish, they become pure white 

 as the flowers mature and change to brown with age. The 

 flowers and their attendant bracts are pendulous on fairly 

 long stalks, and when stirred by the slightest breeze they 

 resemble huge Butterflies hovering amongst the trees. The 

 bracts are somewhat boat-shaped and flimsy in texture, and the 

 leaves often hide them considerably, but so freely are they 

 borne that the tree looks, from a short distance, as if flecked 

 with snow. On dull days and in the early morning and 

 evening the bracts are most conspicuous. The fruit super- 

 ficially resembles a small walnut, but the inner shell is abso- 

 lutely unbreakable. To my mind Davidia involucrata is at 

 once the most interesting and beautiful of all trees of the 

 north-temperate flora. 



" With the Davidia is a good-sized tree of the Horse 

 Chestnut (50 feet in height by 4 feet in girth). Higher up 

 Hornbeam and Tetracentron are common, and Birch, white, 

 red, and black, luxuriate. 



" Maples are a feature of these woods ; all are tall trees, but 

 of no great thickness. Unfortunately very few are flowering, 

 and indeed this is true of the forest trees generally this year. 



" Perhaps the commonest tree in these forests is the Beech ; 

 parts being formed entirely of these trees. So light-demanding 

 are they that they suffer no competitors or even undergrowth. 

 For the first time it is possible for me to say definitely that 

 two distinct species of Beech exist in this region. One forms 

 a tree with a single trunk, the other always has several trunks. 

 The former species has glabrous, shining green leaves, a large. 



