38 THE TREE BOOK 



ter it until it is ready to be sent out in the world. 

 Suppose the wind refuses to blow in the right di- 

 rection? Go nearer and read the answer. The 

 color and fragrance of the blossoms have at- 

 tracted the bees. They look as though some 

 one had sprinkled them with gold dust. And, 

 indeed, the blossoms have. In return for nec- 

 tar, the bees agree to act as messengers, and 

 very faithful little fellows they are. The 

 staminate tassels fall when their pollen is gone. 

 Their business is finished. 



By the time willow pussies begin to shed their 

 poUen, their nearest neighbors, the alders and 

 hazels, put forth their long catkins, "tremulous 

 like teardrops in the wind." The alders are a 

 few days in advance. According to Thoreau, 

 * * We see them a russet maze in earliest spring, 

 and all out-doors is fawn-colored in dry weather, 

 and grows tawny when wet by showers." 



Each flower in the pendulous alder tassel is 

 made up of four petals and four stamens. 

 These are the pollen-bearing flowers. The 

 seed-bearing blossoms are found at the tips of 

 the smallest twigs. Here each flower is a group 

 of three pistils sheltered by a scale. A num- 

 ber of these pistil groups and scales grow close 

 together, forming a dainty little cone. 



The hazel catkins are long, soft swaying 



