168 FIRST STUDIES IN PLANT LIFE 



if our gum trees had been shedding their leaves every 

 autumn for ages past ! As the leaves fall, we can see 

 a dozen things that we could not see when the leaves 

 were on the trees, the plan of the branching, the leaf 

 scars new and old, the twig-galls, the witches' brooms, 

 the ridges that show where the rivers of sap met, and 

 the birds' nests of last spring. Above all, we see 

 against the pale blue of the winter sky, the beautiful 

 network of twig and branch. 



Each season has its own charm. And if we bring 

 to Nature each year a finer heart and a fuller mind, 

 the charm of each season will deepen with each year 

 of our lives. 



Questions and Exercises : — 



(1) Examine the stipules of the hawthorn, dahlia, pear, com- 

 mon garden pea. 



(2) Note how the stipules act as rain and dew-holders in the 

 pansy, dock, rhubarb. 



(3) Show how pine-trees are fitted to bear a fall of snow ; and 

 holly-trees ; and the New Zealand coprosma (looking-glass 

 plant). 



(4) Pull a leaf from any tree that sheds its leaves annually, and 

 look at (a) the leaf-scar left on the stem, (b) the scars of the pre- 

 vious year, (c) still older scars. Note. — Leaf-scars show very 

 clearly in ailanthus (see fig. 122). 



(5) The wild geranium which is an annual in Europe tends to 

 become a perennial here. The root has become thicker, and this 

 store of food carries the plant over the winter. Examine the 

 root. 



(6) Note the beauty of the twigs of English trees when seen 

 against the winter sky. Compare the outer branches of the elm 

 with those of the oak. 



(7) In a split cabbage you see, on a large scale, the interior of 

 a bud. Note the stem tapering to its growing point ai.d the 

 crowded crumpled layers. 



