26 LEAVES, FLOWERS, AND FRUIT 



where the leaves liave fallen off, such leaves are of the 

 earlier year ami must have remained through the winter, 

 so the plant is an evergreen. 



In cases where the leaves are thick, smooth, and usually 

 glossy, the plant may be considered an evergeen or nearly 

 so. In the New England states very few of the shrubs 

 are evergreen ; not more than one fifth to one tenth of 

 the species in cultivation in any one locality are evergreen ; 

 while in the Gulf states probably over half are so. Of 

 course, nearly all the plants, either North or South, with 

 minute scale-shaped or needle-shaped leaves, such as the 

 pines, spruces, firs, arborvitas, and cedars, are evergreen; 

 these are almost without exception trees rather than 

 shrubs. (The bald cypress, the larches, and the tamarisks 

 are exceptions even in this group of scale-sliaped and 

 needle-leaved plants, as they are bare of foliage in 

 winter.) 



