JUNIPER, BERBERRY, TAMARISK 



1093 



summer when the fresh shoots abound, 

 affords a pleasant variation amongst 

 the greens of Nature. 



The bark is scaly, furrt)\ved in age, and 

 when peeUng off hangs in ragged strips. 

 That of the branches is redchsh brown in 

 colour, passing to greyish brown. The 

 buds are very small, green, without pro- 

 tecting scales, being tiny tufts of young, 

 pointed leaves. The leaves are long 

 and narrow, boat-shaped, hollowed out 

 above, keeled beneath, hard and rigid, 

 with a sharp needle point at the prow. 

 The edges and the under part are green, 

 but the concave part above is lined with 

 sih'ery wax, which serves to give to the 

 whole shrub its characteristic tint. These 

 leaves are arranged in 

 groups of three, radiat- 

 ing from the twig in a 

 single plane. Each group 

 is separated from the 

 preceding by only a 

 small space of bare stem, 

 and each group has its 

 leaf insertions alternat- 

 ing with those before 

 and after, so that the 

 defensive points at the 

 tips of the leaves are 

 presented in turn in 

 every direction. The 

 leaves remain attached 

 for about four years. 

 In the winter they as- 

 sume a reddish tinge. 



The flower - clusters, 

 each no larger than a 

 very small bud, are in- 

 conspicuous. Those 

 bearing pollen are, as a 

 rule, on chfferent shrubs 

 from those which pro- 

 duce fruit. Both may 

 be found in autumn 

 near the middle of the 

 current year's shoots, at 

 the points of junction 

 with the leaves. They 

 do not open till the 

 following spring. The 

 pollen flower - clusters, 

 mere conical groups of 

 stamens, with diminu- 

 tive scales and no petals, 

 are yellowish. The 



fruiting flower - clusters, also without 

 petals, are true cones, having overlap- 

 ])ing scales. These are pale green in 

 colour, and shcnv at the tip three erect 

 whitish points, inthcating the ])arts which 

 fructify. The fruit, a berry-like cone, 

 takes two years to mature. It is at first 

 green, but on ripening becomes a bluish 

 black, coated with a waxy bloom. It is 

 almost stalkless, being close down on the 

 twig. What in ordinary cones are dry 

 enclosing scales have here been converted 

 into a succulent juicy casing, attractive 

 to birds, which are the agents in the 

 dispersal of the three enclosed seeds. 

 Fruits in their two stages — those of the 

 last and those of the present year — are 



-W£. 



^. " 





JbMliJv liLbll. 



