TREES WITH HIGHLY-DEVELOPED FLOWERS 301 



fleshy ; the carpels form the core enclosing the seeds, and 

 the receptacle, at first green and small, enlarges and becomes 

 fleshy and bright scarlet. 



The fruits are small pomes and are formed in the same 

 way as the apple. They are dispersed by birds thrushes, 

 redwings, and fieldfares being fond of them. The specific 

 name of the tree (Ancuparia) is derived from the fact that 

 its berries were used to entice redwings and fieldfares into 

 nooses of hair suspended in the woods. 



Laburnum 



The Laburnum (Cytisus Laburnum) (Fig. 201), so often 

 grown as an ornamental tree, is not a native of Britain, but 

 of Central Europe ; where in spring it covers the lower 

 mountain slopes in 'sheets of gold', as does the Gorse on 

 the mountains of Wales and in the west of Ireland. It is 

 a small tree, fifteen to twenty feet in height, with lax, often 

 drooping, branches. The bark remains smooth for many 

 years, then becomes fissured longitudinally ; the branches 

 are greenish-brown to olive, and the young shoots are grey- 

 green and covered with silky hairs. 



The end buds are white, silky, and surrounded by several 

 prominent leaf-bases (1), on which are narrow persistent 

 stipules, giving the buds a fringed appearance. The 

 lateral buds are rather smaller and flattened, and rest 

 on prominent leaf-bases. Many of these buds are sup- 

 pressed or dormant, especially on the concave side of the 

 branch ; hence the lax branching. Some form prominent 

 densely-ringed dwarf shoots, resembling those of the Rowan 

 (1 and 3 d.s). 



The leaf-scars are small and semi-lunar, and have three 

 leaf-traces. The buds are covered by two or three rather 

 loose scales which show transitions to foliage-leaves, thus 

 proving that they are reduced leaf-bases (2). The leaves 

 on the long shoots are alternate and separated by 



