220 SPRING BLOSsoyrs. 



jasmine blossoms freely in the open air at a time 

 when all its leaves are shed, so that only the pretty 

 golden flowers themselves star the surface of the 

 naked branches. Gorse, that most irrepressible of 

 English flowering shrubs, never ceases in the same 

 way to bloom si)asmodically throughout the entire 

 winter, though in this case the leaves are ever- 

 green and capable of withstanding the severest 

 frosts. In laurustinus, again, the foliage never 

 drops; and so leaves aiid flowers appear together 

 in the first days of early spring-tide. But the 

 pretty and curious little pink mezereon follows 

 rather the custom of the yellow jasmine, and un- 

 folds its delicate blossoms to the air before the 

 tiny rosettes of green leaves have begun to show 

 at the stiff summits of the hard little branches. 

 Flowering almond follows the same course ; and 

 so to a greater or less extent do the cherry-blos- 

 som, the pyrus japoni'ca, the pear, and the ap[)]e. 

 All alike derive the material for the unfolding 

 flowers from the store laid by in the previous year 

 among the permanent tissues of the branch on 

 which they grow. 



In either case, whether the particular blossom 

 springs from a bulb or from the branches of a tree 

 or shrub, the conspicuous spring flowers are visited 

 by bees, which aid in fertilizing them and setting 

 tlieir seed. If there were no bees in winter, there 

 would be no winter flowers ; for the blossoms 



