II AMENTACE.E 367 



an inch in length ; on the outside are four closely imbri- 

 cating rows of stipules, arranged apparently in opposite 

 decussate pairs (Fig. 253). I say apparently, because, 

 as the leaves are alternate, it is possible that each pair of 

 these stipules are really alternate, though so compressed 

 as to appear to be opposite. The first pair (Fig. 254) are 

 small, triangular, and pointed. The five following are 

 also triangular, each rather larger than the preceding and 

 more convolute, till they almost enclose the upper part 

 of the bud. The lower ones are brown and coriaceous ; 

 the upper membranous, and furnished with numerous 

 straight, longitudinal, parallel slender veins running 

 from the base to the apex. The covered parts are 

 Avhite, the exposed brown. The upper ones are fringed 

 with long, recurved, silvery or satiny hairs. They are 

 sometimes a brilliant pink or rose colour after expansion, 

 but less often than those of the Hornbeam. The fifth 

 and sixth pairs (Fig. 255) are ciliate with short hairs, 

 and rolled round a considerable part of the bud. The 

 seventh pair are half as long as the bud, but other- 

 wise like the sixth ; the eighth pair, two-thirds as long 

 as the bud ; the ninth, nearly as long as the bud, with 

 silky hairs directed downwards, and the outer one of 

 the two distinctly overlaps the inner. The tenth pair 

 are as long as the bud, and each is convolute, so as to 

 cover nine-tenths of the bud, or even more. The 

 eleventh pair (Fig. 256) are similar, and almost meet 

 at their edges. These eleven pairs of stipules show no 

 traces of a leaf Fig. 258 represents a bud after the 

 removal of the first eleven pairs of stipules. About the 

 twelfth pair there is a material change ; they (Fig. 259) 

 are smaller, and between them is a leaf-blade ; this is 

 about one-third as long as its stipules, concave on the 

 inner face, and plicate along the course of the ascending 

 lateral nerves. The thirteenth pair of stipules (Fig. 260) 

 are rather narrower, especially at the base. The leaf is 

 about half as long as the stipules. The fourteenth pair 

 (Fig. 261) are much smaller, thinner, narrower, and 

 unequal, the inner one being the smaller. The leaf 



