208 Our Field and Forest Trees 



The pollen of the pines can fly up and away, 

 because each grain is provided with two little 

 sailing bladders. These curious pollen grains 

 might give some suggestions to the makers of an 

 air ship. 



They come out of little sacs, borne on the lower 

 surface of shield-shaped scales. These scales 

 huddle together in close tufts, and botanists regard 

 each tuft as a pollen-shedding or " male " flower. 



The pollen-shedding flowers of the pine make 

 quite a show, even in the leafy, blossomy woods 

 of June. They are massed in clusters at the base 

 of the green shoots of the year, and are yellow, 

 orange, or scarlet. We recognize the sort of pine 

 partly by the color of its flowers. 



The pollen-shedding flowers of the hemlock are 

 not so easily found- They are no larger than 

 grains of rice, and they grow on the lower sides 

 of the branches, hidden under the needle-leaves. 

 The pollen-bearing flowers of the juniper and the 

 red cedar are so small, and so hidden among the 

 leaves, that only breezes and botanists can find 

 them. We know when they come, because they 

 give a golden tinge to the boughs which bear them. 

 Says Lowell: 



Cedars blossom, though few people know it, 

 And look all dipped in sunshine — like a poet. 



All these flowers we have talked about, let us 

 remember, are pollen-shedding or " male " flow- 

 ers of the gymnosperms. 



