556 



THE MOUNTAIN ASH. 



THE NEW SHOOT 

 AND HOW IT GROWS . 



In winter the shoot of the previous season 

 attracts notice by its brown colouring and the 

 swelling, encircled by ridges, at its base, where 

 it joins the older branch. The long, curved buds 

 are of a mealy grey colour and placed, at long 

 intervals, on alternate sides of the shoot : they 

 expand early in April. In its early stages the 

 new shoot is very gaily coloured : at the point 

 of its junction with the branch (now a sober 

 silver-grey or brown) it is bright red, and 

 above this point it displays tints of purple and 

 green, partially softened by the white down 

 which also gives a shading of silver to the 

 petiole and to the yellow-green blade of the 

 young leaf. The main mid-rib, a continuation 

 of the leaf-stalk, is at first upright. At this 

 stage each leaflet is folded together at its central 

 rib, and the whole set of leaflets on one side 

 of the leaf-stalk are laid flat against the cor- 

 responding set of leaflets on the other side of 

 the stalk, while all point upwards towards the 

 terminals. When the leaflets separate and unfold, 

 the mid-rib which bears them all bends down- 

 wards, and as they flatten out and stand away 

 from it, it gradually takes a curve in the same 

 plane. 



