134 WATSIDB WEEPS. 



that is, a succession of little blossoms snrrounding 

 a stem, pendant or otherwise, each little blossom 

 being composed of a scale with two or more sta- 

 mens attached. Snch little scale-formed blossoms 

 we have in the case of the common willow, and 

 the birch has a very similar arrangement. In the 

 hazel, the catkin of male flowers, the " pussy-cat's 

 tails" of our early days, are very conspicuous ; but 

 not so the pistil-bearing flowers, which indeed few 

 know but those who have had a botanical introduc- 



1i 



Fxc. 85.— Single BlossomB of Willow : a, pistil.bearingf OT fertile blossom, with 

 scale; fi, stamen-bearing, or barren bloBBom, with scale. 



tion to them, for the Jarge stameniferous catkin, 

 shaking out its showers of golden yeUow pollen in 

 early spring, quite eclipses the little bud-like fertile 

 blossoms, which you will find not far from their 

 more conspicuous mates, albeit you would scarcely 

 distinguish them from buds, but for the protrusion, 

 from their extremities, of a number, of brilliant 

 red filaments ; these are the styles, ajid within the 

 little bud lies the ovaries, which, in due time, 

 become the clusters of autumn ; the ovary expand- 

 ing into the nut, and the scales of the bud into. 



