122 ROUND THE YEAR 



in a number of tough scales. The outer scales and 

 the tips of the inner ones have been long exposed to 

 the air, and are dark-coloured ; the parts which were 

 concealed in the unexpanded bud are paler. There 

 are four rows of scales, two opposite rows of four 

 each, and two intermediate rows of three each ; there 

 are therefore fourteen scales to the bud, or sometimes 

 twelve only. All these are carried upon a short stem. 

 If we strip off all the scales, one by one, we shall find 

 two pairs of folded foliage-leaves in the centre of the 

 bud. This is most easily seen in a bud which has 

 already expanded, and whose parts are enlarged. 



On the ground beneath the Sycamore hundreds of 

 bud-scales are lying about. They are deciduous, and 

 are cast as soon as their purpose has been served. 

 We may conclude from this that they serve only for 

 the protection of the folded leaves within. Pick up a 

 few of the fallen bud-scales. They are rather long 

 and narrow, deeply concave on the side which faced 

 inwards, and well shaped for wrapping round the bud. 

 At the top of each scale is a small knob or point. 

 Look at it with a lens. You will see (more distinctly 

 in some than in others) a small three-lobed projection. 

 This is often curved round to the inner side of the 

 scale, and sometimes hidden by a mass of brown 

 hairs. On some of the larger scales, which were next 

 to the folded leaves, the projection at the summit is 

 five-lobed and quite leaflike. We can hardly be 

 wrong if we call it a rudimentary leaf-blade. In the 

 Flowering Currant, as well as in some other trees and 

 shrubs, this leaf-blade often attains a fair size, turns 

 green, and remains for a long time attached to the 



