84 FIRST STEPS IN GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. 



to eat some of the pretty rose-coloured berries of 

 the yew. His father told him that the soft part of 

 the berry is quite harmless, if the seed is not 

 swallowed; but he advised him in future not to 

 meddle with any strange fruit, however tempting 

 its appearance. 



" There are several foreign trees," said his 

 father, " whose wood is not very inferior to that 

 of the yew in hardness ; but I shall now lead you 

 to a group which may be known by having their 

 flowers arranged in catkins, as we are accustomed 

 to call their dense spikes of blossom. Foremost 

 are the BEEF-WOODS,* a curious tribe of trees and 

 bushes in Australia, whose great peculiarity is, 

 that they have no leaves." 



" Dear papa, what odd trees !" said Mary ; " how 

 strange it seems that they should be able to live 

 and grow without leaves. Our trees have no 

 leaves in winter, but when summer conies, if any 

 of them are leafless we know that they are dead." 



" These Australian trees have drooping jointed 



branches, and at every joint there are little sheaths, 



occupying the place where we should expect the 



leaves to grow. Their flowers are in catkins, and 



* Casuarina. 



