THE DECIDUOUS TREES IN WINTER 



73 



distinctive to an unpracticed eye. Then there are tints of 

 yellow in the twigs of certain willows, and of red in the twigs 

 of the red maple and in the swollen buds of the linden. 



Trees grown in the open develop a characteristic form and 

 are recognizable by their general outline. Most strict and 

 cylindric is the Lombardy poplar; most inclined and spread 

 out upward into vaselike form is the beautiful and stately 

 American elm. Most smoothly oval is the sugar maple and 

 most nearly hemispherical is the apple. The soft maple and 

 the hickories and many others take on an irregular 

 and ragged outline. It is to be noted at once that in their 

 youth these trees are all much more alike in 

 form; also, that in the forest, close crowding 

 reduces every kind of tree to a tall and 

 slender trunk holding aloft as a crown the 

 few branches that have been able to reach 

 the light. 



Much more dependable recognition char- 

 acters are found in the structure of the tree- 

 top. The trunk may tend to form a single 

 axis as in the birch, or to split up early 

 into long main branches as in the elms. The 

 boughs may be short and stocky as in an old 

 chestnut, or long and slender as in a beech. 

 The twigs may be long or short stout or slen- 

 der, and in position ascending, horizontal, or 

 drooping. The bark may present many 

 characteristic differences on trunk and bough 

 and twigs, all of which need to be seen to 

 be appreciated. But most positive of all 

 the structtiral differences by which we may 

 distinguish trees are some of the lesser 

 characters in bud and leaf scar, a few of 

 which are indicated in figure 41. The size 



d 



Fig. 41. Dia- 

 gram of forms 

 of leaf scar, 

 and of grouping 

 of bundle scars 

 on twigs of: a, 

 catalpa;&, black 

 ash; c, horse 

 chestnut ; d, 

 mockernut hic- 

 kory; e, black 

 walnut. 



