CATKIN-BEARING TREES 281 



fringed, and in the axil of each is a flower (4), consisting 

 of a cup-like disk (d), and bearing thirty to forty stamens 

 with dull red anthers. Much pollen is produced and dis- 

 persed by the wind. The flowers of the female catkin 

 (5 and 6) are also axillary. A cup-like disk surrounds the 

 ovary, and the pistil consists of two united carpels. The 

 ovary is one-celled, and above it are two large branched 

 stigmas (6). The capsules, when ripe, split by two valves ; 

 and the seeds, each bearing a tuft of hairs at the base, are 

 dispersed by the wind. 



Hazel 



The Hazel (Corylus Avellana) (Fig. 187) is a shrub or 

 small tree from ten to fifteen feet in height, often forming 

 a conspicuous, shrubby undergrowth in Oak and Ash woods. 

 It is frequently coppiced, and from the old stools which 

 remain, shoots grow out freely, numerous branches thus 

 arising close to the ground. As in the Poplar, suckers 

 spring from adventitious buds on the roots. The cork arises 

 immediately beneath the epidermis (as in Fig. 38), and for 

 several years forms a smooth shining bark, on which are 

 prominent transverse lenticels (Fig. 187, 1 /), but, later, the 

 bark peels off in ring-like scales. 



Branches of two kinds occur : first the main stem and 

 the old branches, on which the lopsided leaves are arranged 

 in two rows ; and secondly the quick-growing stool-shoots 

 and suckers, on which they are in three rows and have 

 larger and more uniform blades. The buds are oval and 

 covered with bud-scales, the nature of which may be easily 

 made out by examining an opening bud. Note the transi- 

 tion from the outer brown scales to scales consisting of pairs 

 of stipules covered with silky hairs, while the innermost 

 pairs have each a small blade between them. The stipules 

 only remain for a short time after the bud opens, but last^ 

 longer on the leaves of the stool-shoots and suckers. The 



