LIFE HISTORIES OF FAMILIAR PLANTS 



account, other catkin -bearing trees ; for what I 

 have written here regarding the hazel apphes in a 

 general way to others. However, in conclusion, I 

 will just glance at one or two slightly different 

 examples of tree flowers. 



Near the river and in watery places we shall 

 find the alder, whose male catkins are very like 

 those of the hazel, but the female catkins form little 

 cones of a red colour, which eventually develop 

 into woody structures with seeds between their 

 scales. The old woody cones may often be found 

 together with the new on the same branches (Fig. 

 39, Plate 25). 



Then there are the curious black buds that 

 break out on the ends of the branches of the ash, 

 revealing clusters of brownish flowers (Fig. 40, 

 Plate 25). These flowers are very simple in 

 structure, some being male and consisting only of 

 a pair of stamens, others female, consisting only of 

 a single ovary, while still others may possess both 

 ovary and stamens, these last being, of course, 

 both male and female. An enlarged photograph 

 of one of these latter is shown in Fig. 41 (Plate 26), 

 The three forms may sometimes be found upon 

 the same tree, and each ovary develops into the 

 winged seeds known as ^'keys" (Fig. 44, Plate 2y), 



Finally, we may consider the flowers of the 

 elm. These grow at the summit of the branches 

 and are often difficult to reach, although rooks 

 when building will frequently throw down branches 

 bearing good specimens. In Fig. 42 (Plate 26) 

 some of these flowers are shown. They appear in 



56 



