THE ALDER. 



197 



THE LEAVES AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT. 



The buds, though only halt-an-inch long, have a rather special 

 interest. In winter their slightly curved form enables them to lie 

 close to the twig, covered by purplish scales. But before spring 

 comes, the pedicel begins to grow rapidly, and the bud, leaving the 

 protecting twig, turns to the light. Soon the pedicels outstrip the 

 buds in length, and this, together with their curious three-sided and 

 twisted torm and their arrangement in three rows, with alternating 

 spaces, along the stem, makes them somewhat conspicuous objects. 

 As the buds swell, the scales drop off, or simply become loosened 

 at the base, and remain like little caps upon the tips ; the inner 

 stipules are exposed and lend to the bud their tints of brown and 

 green. The young leaves, with their pedicels, in their opening stages 

 suggest a hand half unclosed. 



