ON THE STRUCTURE OF BUDS 



107 



Other buds (fig. 162) contain flowers. Both are 

 lovely, and I do not know which is the more exquisite. 



ash (Fraximis) 



The buds of the Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) (figs. 1 63-5) 

 are olive-green, so dark as to be almost black. Tennyson, 

 in the ' Gardener's Daughter,' describes Juliet's hair as 

 More black than ash-buds in the front of March. 



The stems are much paler. The lateral buds are 

 almost completely covered by the two outer scales. The 



Fig. 163. Fig. 164. 



Ash Buds. Nat. size. 



Fig. 166. 



In fi.Lr. 164 and fig. 165 successive pairs of scales have been removed from the 

 terminal bud. 



scales of the terminal bud are often more or less bent. 

 The scales are leaf-stalks, and generally show more or less 

 rudimentary leaflets at the tip. The outer scales are 



