STIPULES, BRACTS, AND SCALES. 1 05 



You will find some buds without any scales at all, 

 especially upon herbaceous plants, as you would 

 do also in many trees in warmer countries, and 

 such buds are called " naked " buds. But in most of 

 our trees and shrubs the buds are covered with these 

 leaf-scales, to protect them from the winter cold. 

 What a snug little nest those delicate leaves of the 

 sycamore bud were stowed away in, so that they were 

 able to live on through the frost and cold of winter. 

 And sometimes the scales have soft hairs upon them, as 

 in many willow trees, and sometimes they, are covered 

 with a sticky substance, as we have seen in the horse- 

 chestnut. These help to keep all that is inside so 

 much the warmer. It is interesting to watch the bud 

 as it develops in the spring-time, and then notice that 

 the bud-scales generally fall off. Look at a horse- 

 chestnut, lime, or sycamore bud during the month of 

 May : you will see that the inner scales have grown 

 larger as the bud has developed, some perhaps still 

 upon the bases of the young shoots, but all soon to 

 fall off, making quite a litter on the ground beneath. 

 Those of the sycamore are beautifully tinged with 

 pink. 



For the rest of the way we will look again at a few 

 of the common plants, and you shall tell me about the 

 stipules and bracts, involucres and cupules, and show 

 them to me as we go. 



