Tree Life 



to a great extent the following groups present substan- 

 tially the affinities recognized by rigid science : and 

 as our present purpose is not to teach botany, but 

 simply to help the reader to enjoy nature we do not 

 feel obliged to apologize for the few discrepancies. A 

 bird's-eye view of the trees of the Northeastern United 

 States is all that we are here attempting to present. 



A few simple but interesting facts in flower-structure 

 will make the principle of our classification apparent. 



All trees produce flowers, that outgrowth that even- 

 tuates in fruit of some sort ; but the flowers are of two 

 very distinct sorts; one found in deciduous trees 

 (shedding their foliage in fall), the other in evergreens ; 

 but here the distinction of foliage suffices to differen- 

 tiate the two groups. 



In the flower-type of the great deciduous group, con- 

 taining all except evergreens, and comprising more than 

 nine-tenths of all our species, a complete blossom con- 

 sists of four distinct parts calyx, corolla, stamens, and 

 pistil ; and the evolution of this type from the simplest 

 to the most elaborate form shows a most interesting 

 series of gradations. Lowest in the scale are those 

 trees whereon one flower consists only of a few stamens 

 containing pollen, another of only a pistil or seed -case 

 to be fertilized by the pollen, neither of these flowers 

 with the slightest vestige of either calyx or corolla 

 (which botany calls the " floral envelope" of the blos- 

 som). Willows and poplars produce this rudimentary 

 flower. 



A little higher in the scale such staminate and pistil- 

 late flowers as we find in willows have a rudimentary 



19 



