The Growth of the Tree 35 



The flower is that part of the plant which produces the 

 fruit. Many persons do not know that trees produce 

 flowers and fruits. They confine the term flower to the 

 ornamental blossoms of certain garden plants, and the 

 term fruit to such things as apples and oranges. Never- 

 theless, every plant of the higher orders puts forth flowers. 

 In the trees, most of the flowers are very inconspicuous. 

 There are three different arrangements for the tree flowers. 

 In some species, such as the cherry and the mountain ash, 

 the flowers are perfect, that is both sexes are represented 

 in the same flower. The second class, the elm, oaks 

 and pines among them, have the different sexes in different 

 flowers on the same tree. The third class have the differ- 

 ent sexes on different trees, the cottonwoods and willows 

 being of this class. This is the reason why some cotton- 

 woods spread the objectionable cotton over everything 

 and others do not ; why some holly has red berries, 

 others none. 



Fruit. — Every tree which produces pistillate flowers 

 bears fruit. We use the term carelessly and frequently 

 confuse the fruit and the seed. The fruit is the seed, — 

 one or more in number, — together with the seed covering, 

 whether it be a hairy catkin, a fleshy drupe or a dry 

 samara. The flower is the generative organ that produces 

 the fruit, and this fruit contains the seed that produces 

 the small tree. 



The fruit is important in this discussion only because 

 it produces the seed. These seeds are of almost innumer- 

 able shapes and sizes ; the important ones will be described 

 later on. The means by which the seeds are distributed 

 is the only point that must be taken up here. Among the 



