24 THE OAK. 



sap of the tree, should arise things so unlike as the 

 oak-apple and the oak-spangle, and that the differ- 

 ence should be referable to the diverse influence of 

 a couple of flies ! 



But it is in the plants which take up their 

 residence on the oak that we see its most beautiful 

 occupants. First, there is that glorious old ever- 

 green the ivy, which, beginning its career like a 

 centipede, creeps slowly and tenderly up the surface, 

 making sure of its wiry footing at every step, and 

 decks the massive trunk with sweet wandering and 

 zigzag sprays of green, variegated, if they get light 

 enough, with unaccustomed hues. While young, 

 and until quite among the branches, the leaves are 

 angular. There are no flowers, and perhaps none 

 ever appear, for the ivy is peculiar in this respect, 

 unconcerned to bloom so long as it has anything to 

 cling to, and producing its flowers only at the very 

 extremities of its growth, when the branches no 

 longer adhere to the boughs of the tree, and the 

 leaves become ovate. This is specially remarkable 

 when ivy clambers up some ancient building, a 

 castle, or the relics of some roofless abbey ; but it 

 is plain enough in the case of trees, if the plant be 

 of sufficient age. There is something peculiarly fine 

 in the spectacle of a venerable tree with its circling 

 ivy. At every season of the year ivy gives an air 

 of richness ; the gloss of the leaves, the easy swing 

 of the masses of foliage, the chiar 3 oscuro caused by 



