158 



THE NATURE BOOK 



up vacant spaces. Later still, when 

 foliage and fruit change to yellow and 

 then to russet brown, the tree has yet 

 another beauty : and this it may hold, 

 more or less, well on into full winter days. 

 The trunk is cylindrical, like that of 

 the Beech, but, in distinction from that 

 tree, is fluted as though a number of lesser 

 stems had coalesced. But this fluting is 

 not always very apparent until the tree 

 has attained a good age. The hark. 

 also like that of the Beech, is thin and 

 smooth, and grey in colour. But here, 

 again, is considerable variation, probably 

 resulting from difference of soil and 

 situation ; it also roughens with age. 

 The winter tK'igs are not so smooth as 

 those of the Beech, 

 slightly hairy, and less 

 zigzag. The resting 

 buds are placed alter- 

 nately on the twig ; 

 they are some- 

 what flattened, and 

 pressed up against the 

 twig. They show 

 numerous scales. Leaf- 

 scars are crescent - 

 shaped, with three 

 small " traces " of the 

 severed tubes. The 

 leaves are oval and 

 pointed like those of 

 the Beech, but their 

 dark green is without 

 gloss, and their 

 margins are doubly 

 serrated throughout. 

 They arc slightly 

 "gimiped," and this 

 gives them an ap- 

 parently wavy out- 

 line. The midrib runs 

 direct to the apex, 

 and the side ribs 

 (twelve to fourteen 

 ])airs of them) in 

 ])arallel straight 

 lines terminate in 

 the larger ser- 

 rations at t h e 

 margin. 



The pollen-bear- 

 ing and fruit-])ro- 

 ducing flowers are 

 distinct, but grow 



on the same tree. They are grouped into 

 })endulous catkins and appear with the 

 leaves. The catkins of pollen-bearing 

 Howers grow out from lateral buds on the 



WINTER 



TWIG 



AND 



BUD 



(ENLARGED) 



OF THE 

 HORNBEAM. 



LEAVES OF THE HORNBEAM. 



last season's twigs, and termmate short 

 new shoots. The catkins of fruit-producing 

 flowers grow out from lateral buds nearer 

 the tip of the twig, and from the terminal 

 bud itself. They are more loosely con- 

 structed, pale green in colour, with leaf- 

 like pointed scales which cur\'e backwards. 

 The pollen is conveyed by the wind. 

 The clustered fruit hangs in long tassels, 

 something like those of .the Sycamore ; 

 but here a curious leaf-like appendage, 

 forming a kind of triple wing, to which 

 two corn-like fruits are attached, takes 

 the place of the double wing of the Syca- 

 more, and answers a like purjiose, aiding 

 dispersal by the wind. 



The following table gives the permanent 

 and easily recognisable distinctions be- 

 tween the Beech and the Hornbeam, ignoring 

 those which are peculiarly subject to 

 variations in the habits of both trees. 



Henry Irving. 



