22 



THE OAK. 



minute bud in its axil. When the primary shoot has 

 attained a length of about three inches there are usually 

 two of these small scale-leaves placed nearly opposite 

 one another close to the tip, and a little longer and nar- 

 rower than those lower down on 

 the shoot ; from between these 

 two linear structures the first 

 true green foliage leaf of the 

 oak arises, its short stalk being 

 flanked by them. This first leaf 

 is small, but the tip of the shoot 

 goes on elongating and throwing 

 out others and larger ones, until 

 by the end of the summer there 

 are about four to six leaves 

 formed, each with its minute 

 stalk flanked by a pair of tiny 

 linear scales ("stipules," as they 

 are called) like those referred to 

 above. 



Each of the green leaves arises 



FIG. 4. Germinating acorn, 



showing the manner of from a point on the young stem 

 emergence of the pri- wh j ch ig a Httle h j h and more 

 mary shoot, and the first 



scales (stipules) on the to one side, than that from which 

 latter. (After Kossmass- the lowermost one springs ; hence 

 a line joining the points of inser- 

 tion of the successive leaves describes an open spiral 

 round the shoot axis i. e., the stem and this of such 

 a kind that when the spiral comes to the sixth leaf up- 



