274 COMMON TREES AND SHRUBS 



with it a thin shaving from the carpel, which serves as 

 a wing for seed-dispersal (Fig. 182, 8). 



The ovule of the Pine, unlike that of other flowering 

 plants, becomes filled with endosperm before fertilization. 

 When ripe, part of this persists around the embryo, which 

 has a radicle, plumule, and eight needle-shaped cotyledons. 

 On germination the tips of the cotyledons remain in the 

 seed and absorb the endosperm. The plumule elongates 

 and bears, for the first two years, not scale-leaves, but green 

 needle-leaves. Then as new ones form, they become more 

 scale-like, and buds arising in their axils give rise to dwarf 

 shoots, each with two needle-leaves (Fig. 183). 



Larch 



Though commonly planted in woods, the Larch (Larix 

 europaea) is not a native tree in Britain. It grows rapidly 

 to eighty or one hundred feet, and as in the Pines, the 

 terminal bud continues growth, and for a time the tree is 

 conical. The leader is eventually lost, and the tree then 

 develops an open crown of sparse and delicate foliage. Its 

 bark is fissured, scaly, and grey, tinged with pink, and is 

 early developed on the young shoots. 



The tree is easily recognized by its knotted, slender, 

 furrowed branches, which arise alternately and not in 

 whorls. Long and short shoots are formed ; on the long 

 ones the leaves arise singly, while on the thick, slow-growing 

 short shoots they are numerous and in tufts (Fig. 184). 

 In wet seasons the dwarf shoots may elongate and form 

 long flexuous drooping twigs. Buds are relatively few and 

 are scattered on the shoot. Notice the large number of 

 scale-leaves and foliage-leaves which have no buds in their 

 axils. The buds stand off at right angles and are covered 

 with very many brown resinous scales. Most of these fall 

 off as the bud opens, but the lower ones persist and harden. 

 The leaves are about an inch long and needle-like, but thin, 

 flat, and soft. In early spring they are bright green in 



