Spring and Summer Vegetation 



THERE is a characteristic differ- 

 ence betwixt the earlier and the 

 later flowering plants in the mode 

 of putting forth their blossoms. 

 Trees or shrubs of the later type seem 

 generally to prefer to develop these 

 blossoms from the extremity of a lengthy 

 shoot ; in the later examples of the type, 

 such as the Clematis or Rose, no trace 

 of flower-buds appearing till the shoot 

 has nearly perfected its leaves. 1 In 

 earlier examples, however, like the Horse 

 Chestnut or the Lilac, the flower-buds 

 are distinctly visible from the first, and 

 come to perfection almost simultaneously 

 with the foliage, or in other cases even 

 a little sooner, so that the plant when 

 in bloom has an unfinished half-developed 



1 By "shoot" I mean the stem of this year's growth, 

 as contrasted with the branch, which comes from some 

 former year. 



187 



