loiS 



THE NATURE BOOK 



LEAVES OF BOX. 



small s h r ii b b y 

 plants — whortle- 

 lierry, cranberry, 

 etc. — have very 

 similar leaves, but 

 with these plants 

 the leaf arrange- 

 ment is alternate, 

 whilst that of the 

 Box is opposite. 



The flowers 

 cluster at the base 

 of the leaves and 

 seem to encircle 

 the twig. 

 They are of 

 two kinds, 

 though 

 found in 

 a single 

 cluster. Centrall}' is a three-angled 

 pillar-hke body having three pro- 

 jecting parts at the top. This is 

 the fruiting flower and matures 

 first. A little later this is beset 

 at its base by what seems a 

 crowd of yellow stamens. A 

 closer scrutiny will show that 

 these are grouped in fours, each 

 set rising out of a tiny saucer- 

 like receptacle, which with the 

 stamens constitute the pollen- 

 bearing flower. There are no 

 petals. These flowers are visited 

 by bees for the sake of the 

 p )llen, but this probably has 

 little effect in the matter of 

 fertihsation, which is almost, if 

 ncjt entirely, dependent upon the 

 wind. L(jrd Avebury states that 

 since the pollen, " like that of 

 wind flowers generally, is dry 

 and dusty, the hive bee moistens 

 it with nectar from its mouth and 

 then brushes it on to its hind legs." 

 The fruit is an erect three-celled 

 capsule with three projecting 

 puints at the top. Each cell con- 



tains two black seeds. When ripe the cell 

 splits open lengthways, exposing the pair of 

 seeds partially enclosed in an inner chaffy 

 chaml)er. The walls of this inner chamber 

 contracting, pinch the seeds till, shpping 

 free, they are ejected to a considerable 

 distance. These seeds germinate freely, 

 and multitudes of seedlings spring up in 

 the vacant spaces, maintaining a woodland 

 undergrowth in those spots, as on the 

 srnnmit and slope of the chalk down, 

 where the Box thrives in association with 

 the Beech and the Yew. 



Henry Irving. 



FLOWERS OF BOX. 



