56 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 



them issue in April weather four, or even six, 

 broad, fan-like leaves, surrounding a cone-shaped 

 cluster of flowers (Fig. 7). 



When the young leaves first begin to expand 

 we can see the folding creases in them, and thus 

 get an idea how they were packed into the very 

 small spaces which they occupied all winter. We 

 see that maple and currant leaves have been 

 plaited like fans. Those of the cherry and oak 

 have been folded lengthwise down the middle, so 

 that their sides come together like the covers of a 

 closed book. The circular May-apple leaves (Frontis- 

 piece) have been folded back against their stalks, 

 like closed umbrellas, and will open just as umbrellas 

 do. Plum-leaves have been rolled from one edge 

 toward the other, as one rolls sheets of music. 

 Some of the tender young leaves are clothed or 

 surrounded with vegetable down. This is the 

 blanketing which Nature provided to prevent them 

 from being "winter-killed." The horse-chestnut 

 leaves have been particularly well protected, and 

 from seeing them so snugly wrapped we infer that 

 this tree's ancestors lived in the north, where 

 winters were long and severe. Its cousin, the 

 buckeye, is a fair southerner, and the young buck- 

 eye leaves are unprovided with coverings of vege- 



