CALIFORNIA PLANTS IN THEIR HOMES 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE AWAKENING OF THE TREES. 



The willows awaken first; in fact some willows hardly 

 seem to nap at all. In autumn we saw them beginning to 

 rid themselves of their leaves, but before the old leaves 

 were quite gone, the brown buds along the stems were 

 showing signs of life. Before Christmas, perhaps, some of 

 the buds had thrown off these outside wraps, and had ap- 

 peared in their inner coats of silky gray fur. Then we 

 said the pussy willows were coming out. Some of these 

 pussy-like buds were clearly baby leaves curled up to- 

 gether; others were what even the botanists call catkins, 

 which means little cats. As the catkins grew longer, it 

 was easy to see that the gray coat was, like an old-time 

 armour, made of overlapping scales, and indeed it was an 

 armour against Jack Frost and other foes of the tender 

 plants. Soon some catkins that grew in sunny places be- 

 came yellow and fluffy and were covered with golden dust. 

 Perhaps you can find some such catkins still, and can see 

 that they are fluffy because stamens have pushed out from 

 beneath every little scale; the yellow dust is the pollen they 

 are shedding. 



But there is something else beneath every little scale, 

 as the bees know very well; it is a very tiny, green peg 

 covered with honey. Out of doors on a fine day, you can 

 see how these minute drops of honey glisten in the sun , 



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