SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



203 



the ash greater than in most trees. In young 

 quick-growing shoots, and more especially in 

 the stem of a young sapling, it will sometimes be 

 as much as six inches. This length of internode is 

 especially seen in early growth and in the upper 

 part of such ash-trees as do not flower, and it helps 

 to show out the form of the pinnate leaves, thus 

 contributing to that elegance which so charac- 

 terises the young ash. 



During the early life of the ash its shoots are 

 chiefly long-jointed, and, unlike the case of elm and 

 various other trees, few joints only are made in a 

 year's growth, and most of these give rise to side- 

 branches. But as the tree advances towards 

 maturity, the side-branches, which are less vigorous 

 than the leader from which they spring, become 

 more and more 

 short-jointed, the 

 pairs of leaves 

 being only two, 

 one, or even only 

 half an inch 

 apart. The lead- 

 er itself also will 

 often take on 

 the same habit 

 of growth, the 

 internodes being 

 scarcely at all 

 developed. With 

 this tendency to 

 produce short - 

 jointed wood, 

 there sets in the 

 disposition to 

 flower, and the 

 more short-joint- 

 ed the wood, the 

 more exclusively 

 does it produce 

 flower - buds in- 

 stead of leaf- 

 buds. The pani- 

 cles of flowers are in every case lateral, the 

 terminal bud being always a leaf-bud, hence the 

 shoot, whether leader or side-shoot, continues to 

 preserve the same direction or line of growth. 

 Very generally the end bud of the year's shoot, 

 if at all vigorous, is accompanied by a leaf- 

 bud at each side ; these side-buds develop into 

 side-shoots the following year, whilst the leader 

 pushes forward. The flower-buds which have 

 been formed along the lower part of the year's 

 shoot are the first to expand in the spring, 

 the panicles of flowers which they bear have 

 no leafy growth at their base, and when the 

 seeds are ripened they fall off, leaving a clear 

 scar, from whence there never arises any further 

 growth ; hence the long, bare, knotted spaces which 



we see in the branches of the ash in its mature 

 growth. These rugged, knotty branches are quite 

 unlike the smooth surface of the early long jointed 

 wood, they are generally terminated by two or 

 three pairs of leaves close above each other, and in 

 the axils of these leaves are formed the flower-buds 

 for the next year, the terminal bud being, as before, 

 a leaf-bud. The fact that there is no further growth 

 from the spaces whence the flower-panicles have 

 fallen tends, together with the long joints of the 

 early-formed branches, to make the branches of the 

 ash much less numerous and close than in most 

 other trees, hence the bare aspect of the tree in 

 winter, more especially if it be one which has 

 received scanty nutriment. It will have been seen 

 that the lateral position of the flowers allows 



each shoot to 

 pursue its origi- 

 nal direction 

 without interfer- 

 ence, just the 

 contrary to what 

 occurs where the 

 flowers are ter- 

 minal. The 

 thickness or di- 

 ameter of the 

 young shoots of 

 the ash is, as 

 has been already 

 said, from three- 

 eighths of an 

 inch to one-quar- 

 ter of an inch, 

 a greater thick- 

 ness than is 



the 

 any 



Ash in Summer Habit. 



found in 

 shoots of 

 other truly ni 

 tive tree. 

 (To be continued. 



THE BOTANICAL CHAIR AT CAMBRIDGE. 

 -pvR. MARSHALL WARD, F.R.S., has been 

 ■*-^ elected Professor of Botany at Cambridge, in 

 succession to the late Professor Babington. He is a 

 son of Mr. Marshall Ward, who has conducted the 

 Nottingham Philharmonic Choir with conspicuous 

 success for many years. Dr. Ward, who was a 

 scholar and fellow of Christ's, was for some years as- 

 sistant in the botanical department of Owens College, 

 Manchester, and afterwards Professor of Botany in 

 the forestry department of Cooper's Hill College. 

 He is well known for his researches on plant 

 disease, particularly in regard to the fungoid disease 

 which some years ago played havoc with the coffee 

 crop of Ceylon, and also for his work on the bac- 

 teria of the Thames. 



