48 THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



leaf-blade has a distinct midrib giving off lateral veins, and the 

 surface is wrinkled between the meshes of the fine reticulate 

 venation. 



The male catkins fall off entire after flowering, but the pollin- 

 ated female catkins persist, and their pistils enlarge and develop 

 into the fruits. These have the same shape as the pistil, and 

 when mature later in the year open to liberate the seeds. They 

 then have the appearance represented in the third figure of the 

 plate. The cottony white appearance is due to the seeds, which 

 are being liberated from the open fruits. Each seed has a tuft 

 of white hairs around its base. These cause the seeds to be readily 

 carried by the wind and thus dispersed. In the autumn the 

 Willow sheds its leaves, and the branches are, as in so many trees, 

 bare until the next spring. 



THE APPLE (Pyrus Mains, L.) AND THE PEAR (Pyrus 



communis, L.) 



The Apple and Pear trees are close relatives belonging to the 

 same genus, and attention may be directed to some of the many 

 features of interest they possess, though space will not allow of 

 a complete description of either plant. It will be convenient 

 to base the description on the Apple, pointing out features in which 

 the Pear differs. Both are trees of moderate size, the main trunk 

 and older branches being covered with bark, while all the branches 

 except the leafy twigs in their first season have a brown covering 

 of cork. We may limit our study here to the smaller branches 

 and the flowers and fruits. Material for this can be obtained from 

 any garden, the trees flowering in May and fruits being developed 

 before the autumn. Both the Apple and Pear are found wild 

 in Britain, but specimens of cultivated forms will be more readily 

 obtained. 



As is not uncommon in trees, we can distinguish several kinds 

 of shoot making up the branch system. In the first place, there 

 are the shoots from which all the increase in length of the branches 

 proceeds. These have well-developed internodes separating the 

 leaves, and the terminal bud carries on similar growth in the 

 next season. Where lateral buds develop into shoots of this type 



