THE HORSE-CHESTNUT. 151 



THE YOUNG CHESTNUT TREE. 



The drawings on page 149 explain the early stages in the life 

 ot a Chestnut. The first fio-ure shows the nut with the descendinij 

 axis some tour or five inches long already furnished with well-formed 

 rootlets. The ascending portion, ot slower growth, is but an inch 

 up, though its recurved tip bears the first set of true leaves. This 

 young stem has not been able to split the nut and spring up be- 

 tween the two seed-leaves (cotyledons) that make up the nut, like 

 the young oak does with the acorn. The Chestnut seedling in this 

 resembles the walnut, thou2:h in the latter the seed-leaves seem more 

 nearly to merit their name. On either side ot the axis are the 

 connections by which nourishment is conveyed trom the seed-leaves 

 to the young plant. The straightening of the stem, its growth and 

 that ot the first leaves is explained by the figures that follow on. 



THE LEAF AND ITS DEVELOPMENT 



FROM THE BUD. 



At the end of the winter each of the pale red-brown shoots of 

 the previous year is topped by a stout bud nearly an inch in length. 

 Within it, concealed by the sticky, overlapping chestnut-coloured 

 scales, lies the tuture fiower and its coronal of leaves. As the gum 

 on the bud is melted bv the sun and warm rains of spring, the 

 scales lengthen, and the whitish-green of the parts hitherto unexposed 

 is seen. The outer and lower scales separate and droop backwards 

 towards the stem, while the leaf tips, coated in white iur, emerge 

 beyond the lower ones, which are pale and beautitully tinted with 

 pink. Each leaflet is folded at the central rib, and the leaves lie 

 like a closed fan, the older ones protecting the smaller, as well as 



