40 IRambles wttb mature Students 



different flowers the petals vary in number from five 

 to nine, and the sepals are equally varied, ranging 

 from three to five or six. 



The small honey glands at the base of the petals 

 render this plant attractive to bees and flies, and the 

 flowers thus become fertilised by their visits ; but if, 

 by reason of its growing in a shady place, no 

 insects happen to visit the flowers and they fail to 

 ripen fruit, then the plant has another resource, and 

 produces small bulbils in the axils of the leaves, 

 and these in time fall off and become new plants. 



The name ficaria is said to be given to this species 

 because the small tubers somewhat resemble a fig 

 (ficus) in shape. 



TREE CATKINS 



I see to-day one of the earliest signs of approaching 

 spring ! Even before the snowdrop can be found, the 

 little hanging blossoms of the hazel, called by country 

 children ' lambs' tails,' are to be discovered on the 

 bare sprays. They have been there since last autumn 

 all unobserved, but now they are daily lengthening 

 and growing more conspicuous, and will soon be 

 shedding out their pale yellow pollen as a passing 

 wind shakes the branches. 



From this time onward we shall find much interest 

 in the study of tree blossoms, and I will endeavour 

 to speak of them in the order in which they appear. 



The essential thing in all flowers, in fact the very 

 reason for the existence of a flower, is that its seed 

 should be rendered fertile, so that when sown it should 

 produce a plant like itself. In the greater number of 

 plants we find stamens and pistils, which are the male 



