SCOTCH FIR (PINE). . 353 



maturity than did the slender twig. The side shoots are meanwhile 

 following a lilce course in their respective directions. The characteristic 

 ramification of the old tree thus partly results from the peculiar 

 suppleness of the young twig as compared with that of other 

 trees. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE SHOOT AND LEAVES. 



In autumn the twig usually bears at its extremity a cluster of 

 three buds, though occasionally but a single one is found. These buds 

 are red-brown in colour, sharply pointed and smeared with a white, 

 resinous substance. By the following May the new shoot has begun 

 to grow, and at its apex the tips of the leaves, covered by red-brown 

 sheaths, form a compact cylindrical mass. By the end of the month 

 the colour of the shoot has changed to a brilliant shining green, and 

 and its length has increased to two or even four inches. As it 

 lengthens the leaves disengage themselves one by one and spread 

 outwards ; the brown sheath which has protected them during the 

 winter still enwraps them at their base, but it is folded back from 

 the point to allow its nurslings room to expand, and the young 

 leaflets push their bright green tips through the inner covering of 

 silky white skin. 



The base of the shoot is still concealed by the sheaths and the 

 long needle-like leaves of previous seasons. When the shoot is fully 

 grown it is thickly covered with leaves, springing in pairs from the 

 stem. These needles are from two to three inches long, regularly 

 about one-sixteenth of an inch wide, and sharply pointed. Each pair 

 is bound together at the base by a brownish-grey filmy tissue which 

 is nearly transparent ; the arrangement of the surfaces, which are flat 



