298 COMMON TREES AND SHRUBS 



smaller, ovate to cordate, and nearly smooth above. The 

 stipules (Fig. 198, 2) fall off as the bud opens, but those 

 on the stool-shoots remain for some time. 



The flowers are developed in globular buds in the position 

 of dwarf shoots, each containing a cluster of sixteen to 

 eighteen flowers in small cymes. They open in March or 

 April, before the leaves appear. Each flower, unlike the 

 previous types, is hermaphrodite, i.e. stamens and pistil 

 are in the same flower (Fig. 198, 3). The perianth is inferior 

 and bell-shaped, with five or six fringed lobes ; the stamens 

 are five or six and opposite the lobes. The pistil is superior, 

 of two united carpels. The ovary is two-celled and flat, 

 with two stigmas. 



After fertilization the ovary-wall expands into a thin, 

 flat, veined wing surrounding the single seed. The end is 

 often deeply notched and the two edges overlap (Fig. 198, 4). 



The fruits (samaras) are developed in dense clusters, 

 the wings are green, and a tree in full fruit appears at a 

 distance to be in leaf. When the fruit is mature, the wing 

 dries, becomes grey-brown in colour, and is dispersed by 

 the wind. In this country the fruits of the English Elm do 

 not ripen their seeds. 



Rowan 



The Rowan (Pyrus Aucuparia), as is usual with well- 

 known plants, bears several other popular or local names, 

 such as Roan Tree, Wickens or Quicken Tree, and Mountain 

 Ash, and is very conspicuous in the autumn, when covered 

 with its bright scarlet berries. In distribution it follows 

 pretty closely the Sessile Oak, but, although abundant in 

 places, it never becomes the dominant tree of the wood. 

 It occurs mainly on siliceous soils, but especially in heath 

 woods in hilly districts, where it ascends far up the moor- 

 land valleys, becoming little more than a shrub. It is 

 a small tree, fifteen to thirty feet high. The older part of 



