n6 THE VEGETATIVE ORGANS 



the outer scales and examine the inner ones carefully. You 

 will find between each pair a tiny green blade ; the outer 

 ones have no leaf -rudiment between them. Farther in- 

 wards are the foliage-leaves, folded fan- wise (Fig. 72), and 

 the veins and margins are fringed with white hairs. Grow- 

 ing out from the base of each leaf is a pair of light-brown 

 membraneous scales. Outgrowths of the leaf -base are called 

 stipules, and a careful comparison shows that the scales 

 of a Beech bud are such outgrowths, i. e. they are stipules. 

 As the bud opens and the leaves mature, the scales, having 

 served their purpose as protective structures, commonly 

 fall off, and hence they are said to be deciduous. Thus 

 the leaves, when mature, appear to be without stipules. 



The bud-scales of many of our forest trees are stipules, 

 e.g. Poplar, Oak, Hazel, and Elm. In these cases, the 

 ' spring fall ' is one of stipules, and not, as in the Sycamore 

 and Horse-Chestnut, of leaf-bases. In the case of a few 

 plants, e. g. the Laburnum, the scales do not fall when the 

 bud opens, but wither on the branch. In many plants the 

 stipules grow with the growth of the leaf, are green and 

 leaf -like, and last as long and serve the same general 

 purposes as the leaf ; such stipules are persistent, e. g. Haw- 

 thorn, Rose, Pea, Violet, &c. Some plants do not produce 

 stipules, i. e. they are exstipulate. 



The buds of some trees and many herbs are not protected 

 by scales at all, but are naked, e. g. Wayfaring Tree, Juniper, 

 Barberry, Mistletoe, Ivy, Bittersweet, &c. In the Way- 

 faring Tree, however, the young leaves are protected by 

 a mealy covering of star-shaped hairs, hence it is sometimes 

 called the Meal Tree. 



Watch the buds of the Beech as they open in the spring 

 (Fig. 75) and compare the behaviour of the leaves with 

 that of the Horse-Chestnut leaves. Note the elongation 

 of the bud, the separation of the scales, the bright yellow- 

 green leaves peeping above them, folded fan-wise and 



