188 Our Field and Forest Trees 



A few of the early-blooming trees get their 

 pollen carried for them, by flying insects. 



We may have noticed the " swamp " or " red " 

 maple, " crimsoned like a coral reef " to please 

 the April bees, and pussy willow shows her silvery 

 and her golden tassels even earlier in the spring. 

 The silvery tassels are groups of pistils, each cov- 

 ered by a fringed scale. The golden tassels are 

 colored by the bright heads of many stamens rais- 

 ing themselves above the furry scales which have 

 been sheltering them from the cold (Fig. 48). 



These are " imperfect " flowers indeed, but the 

 children and the bees give them a joyous welcome. 

 They come when the thickets are still gray and 

 bare, and they make quite a brave show in the 

 world, even though they have no corollas. 



The silvery whiteness of their furry fringes, and 

 the gold of their stamens, like the rich scarlet 

 petals of the red maple flowers, attract the first 

 flying insects of the year. 



But the tree flowers of earliest spring, as a rule, 

 are not brightly colored. They are not trying to 

 attract the notice of insects, and their old stand-by, 

 the wind, does not care how they look. 



Almost all the first tree blossoms are olive or 

 brownish or green, or dull, dark red. They are 

 many of them high overhead, too far above us 

 to be clearly seen. 



They come just when we are looking for the 

 first foliage, and they are often mistaken for 



