LIFE HISTORIES OF FAMILIAR PLANTS 



of this amongst familiar trees. Comparatively few 

 people are acquainted with the flowers of the oak, 

 elm, beech, and hazel trees ; yet the acorns of the 

 oak, the winged seeds of the elm (Fig. 43, Plate 

 2"]^^ the beech-nuts and also the hazel-nuts (Fig. 

 '^'], Plate 24) are perfectly familiar to them when 

 they appear. 



This unfamiliarity with tree flowers is easy to 

 explain. These flowers develop their parts during 

 early spring, mostly before the leaves appear, 

 when the trees themselves are not very readily 

 distinguished by the ordinary untrained eye. 

 Then, again, the flowers of trees are generally 

 catkins, which all, more or less, resemble each 

 other, and, consequently, are not readily recog- 

 nised as different species. The hazel catkins of 

 the hedgerows and woodlands (Fig. 34, Plate 23) are 

 the first to make their appearance, and are doubt- 

 less the most familiar of this kind of blossom. 

 There is, however, a common error with regard to 

 these catkins. The long, pendent blossoms are 

 often said to develop into hedge -nuts. That this 

 is quite wrong may be readily proved by observing 

 that, when the leaves begin to appear, the catkins 

 drop from the branches just as the leaves do in 

 autumn. Nevertheless, these catkins have per- 

 formed their functions, and without them there 

 could certainly be no hedge-nuts. 



If on a still day you suddenly strike a branch 

 of a hazel tree bearing catkins, you will im- 

 mediately observe a cloud of yellow dust issuing 

 from the catkins. By studying Fig. 34 (Plate 23), 



48 



