SPRAY. 161 



Sycamore shoots show the same winter life 

 as those of the Lime and of some other trees ; 

 but the buds are larger and are wrapped in 

 several somewhat oval-shaped, over-lapping scales. 

 Within these, fresh and green and full of vigour, 

 though sleeping, is the beautiful, incipient form 

 of the future green leaf, wrapped round and round 

 upon itself. The bark of the Sycamore shoots 

 may be described as being reddish-grey in colour. 

 The buds on the shoots are produced in pairs 

 along them, and they are also terminal, large, and 

 conical. Beneath each bud the bark is curiously 

 wrinkled, and the general character of the shoots 

 is robust. 



On the smaller branches of the Larch the bark 

 is a very light shade of brown ; on the larger ones, 

 such as that shown in the accompanying illus- 

 tration, it is darker in its hue of brown. In his 

 drawing of the spray of the Larch our artist has 

 given us some rugged bits of shoots, with a 

 couple of empty cones and some incrusting lichen. 

 The buds are numerous and rounded, and are 

 produced all round the stems. The branching 

 of the shoots from the main stem is at obtuse 



