JUNIPER, BERBERRY, TAMARISK 



1095 



leaves, tufted on the short shoots, scattered 

 on the long shoots, are oval, pointed at the 

 base and tip, rather stiff, edged with tiny 

 but distinct spines. The midrib is well 

 marked, but the secondaries are obscure, 

 breaking up almost immediately into a 

 decided network of smaller veins. 



The flowers are complete with stamens 

 and pistil. They have six petals and 

 six calyx leaves, all of a rich golden yellow, 

 forming a kind of double cup or bell. 

 A very perfect device secures cross 

 fertilisation by the agency of insect 

 visitors. The six stamens, lying prone 

 in the cup of the petals, radiate frtnn the 

 base of the central columnar pistil. These 

 stamens at the base are highly sensitive. 

 Here are the honey glands. An insect 

 seeking the nectar inevitably touches a 

 stamen, which instantly springs up, striking 

 its pollen box against the 

 visitor, whom it dusts with 

 pollen. The insect, bee or 

 beetle, may or may not be :. .^ 

 startled away. In either 

 case it carries some pollen 

 to the next flower \nsited, 

 which goes through a like 

 performance. So the pollen 

 is conveyed from flower to 

 flower. 



The berries are long oval, 

 or oblong ; juicy, and of a 

 bright orange-scarlet colour 

 when ripe, attractive to 

 birds. They contain two 

 or three seeds. 



THE T.\MARISK 



This is the shrab of the 

 sandy wastes and the sea- 

 shore. It has been natural- 

 ised here, and is found 

 chiefly and in some 

 abundance round our 

 southern coasts. Growing 

 under conditions which 

 other shrubs are unable 

 to endure, in sheer sand, 

 drenched by sea mists or 

 by driven salt spray, ex- 

 posed to drying winds and 

 the untempered sun-heat, 

 yet thriving withal, it has 

 been largely utilised to 

 make hedges about the 



reclaimed shore lands, and for ornamenta- 

 tion on the seaside promenades. Its 

 habit, whether as shrub or small tree, is 

 loose and feathery. Its long, slender, 

 withe-Uke branches give it some resem- 

 blance to a willow, but the leaf system 

 reminds one rather of that of the cypress 

 or the heath. 



On old stems the bark becomes deeply 

 fissured, and in colour is a yellowish 

 brown. That on the branches is marked 

 with fine hues, is red in colour, varying to 

 purple or brown. The branches curve 

 over at the ends. The leaves, which are 

 minute, scale-like, of triangular shape, 

 and grey-green in colour, entirely clothe 

 the slender shoots, to which they are 

 pressed closely, overlapping at the edges 

 after the manner of tiles. Transpiration, 

 as is very needful under the conditions 



BHKBEKKY BUSH IN FKLIT. 



