THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 



richly branched below and the branches sometimes 

 becoming even pendent." Personally I have not 

 found it possible to determine the sex of the tree by 

 its habit and the many Japanese, Koreans, and 

 Chinese whom I have questioned on this point 

 assert that it is utterly impossible to do so. Could 

 some reliable means of distinguishing the male from 

 the female trees be found it would be of considerable 

 value, for as an avenue tree the female, on account 

 of the evil smell of its ripe seed, is not desirable, as 

 the people of Washington, D. C, will testify. The 

 flowers are developed from among the leaves at the 

 apex of the spur-like shoots and appear at the end of 

 April or beginning of May; the males in arching 

 catkins, superficially not unlike those of the Oak 

 but rather stouter and less pendent; the females 

 in pairs on the apex of slender footstalks, each flower 

 consisting of a minute, globose little body tipped by a 

 short point and subtended at the base by a cup- 

 shaped swelling. I ndeed they are very like the flowers 

 of some Oaks {Quercus glauca, a Japanese species, for 

 example). The pollen is scattered by the wind and 

 settles on the tip of the female flower, after which 

 the cup grows up and encloses the globose body. 

 Fecundatibn takes place early in September, being 

 preceded by many changes within the growing nut- 

 like body which culminate in the development of a 



70 



