THE WHITEBEAM, 389 



the leaves are turned up by the wind. The profusion of blurred 

 white blossom and the unusual form of the fruit are also remarkable. 

 The tree is fairly common in chalk and limestone districts. 



THE FLOWERS. 



The buds which contain flowers as well as leaves are larger and 



o 



rounder than those which contain leaves only. About the beginning 



of May the protecting leaves diverge, and disclose 

 a mass of round white floret buds, packed tightly 



/<^~" together, and supported on a stout pedicel, which 



rt^ <>/• rLe^e-^ is also white and downy. With the lengthening 



of the pedicels the flower-buds are enabled to separate, and by the 

 middle of May they form a corymb of many white flowers, all fully 

 out. Each floret has five rounded white petals, about a quarter-of- 

 an-inch long, concave and set at right angles with the central pistil. 

 The stamens, twenty in number, which radiate from the centre of the 

 flowers, rise in the angle between petals and pistil, and consequently 

 project beyond the surface of the head of flower, and give a blurred 

 look to its outline ; while their yellow tips also affect the appearance 

 of the blossom when seen from a distance. The main flower-stalk 

 branches into smaller pedicels, and on still shorter tributaries of these 

 the florets are borne. 



THE FRUIT. 



Soon after the fruit is formed the stalk becomes pendent, owing 

 to its added weight. The fruit is a rounded oblong in shape, half 



