UNAPPRECIATED FLOWERS 15 



the Soft Maples, for the male and female flowers are 

 sometimes seen on adjacent branches of the same 

 tree* And on rare occasions a little bunch of co-eds 

 will appear, surrounded on all sides by their vigorous, 

 crowding brothers* Although these Maples scatter 

 their seeds and germinate before summer dries the 

 ground, the bud scales strewn about do not indicate 

 that the flowers have fulfilled their mission* Early 

 birds have missed the delicacies usually provided by 

 the season, and have turned in their extremity to the 

 unpalatable buds* 



Elm flowers are also opening in favoured localities* 

 They are shy blossoms, and, like some of the most 

 elusive warblers of summer, prefer to remain partly 

 hidden in the tops* There the swollen buds are now 

 visible against the cold grey sky, and occasionally 

 on a more ambitious limb the rough, uneven clusters 

 show where the flowers have actually unfolded* If 

 their delicate stigmas do not succumb to the cold 

 they will soon be strewing the ground with round- 

 winged seeds* 



Alders by the suburban streams are bringing a far 

 different variety of floral offerings* The rigid catkins 

 that were as hard and lifeless as thorns through the 

 winter seem suddenly to have thawed out with the 

 return of spring* They have become large, loose, 

 elongated, and flexible, and as they sway about with 

 every passing wind, the bright, yellow pollen shakes 



