414 ECOLOGY. 



rod and aster still linger long in beauty and profusion. When 

 the leaves have fallen the witch-hazel (hamamelis) begins to 



Fig. 505. 

 Spray of witch-hazel (hamamelis) with flowers ; section of flower below. 



flower, and the snows begin to come before it has finished 

 spreading its curled yellow petals. 



725. The landscape a changing panorama. — In our temper- 

 ate regions the landscape is a changing panorama ; forest and 

 field, clothed uith a changing verdure, don and doff their foliage 

 with a precision that suggests a self-regulating mechanism. 



In the glad new spring the mild warmth of the sun stirs the 

 dormant life to renewed activity. With the warming up of the 

 soil, root absorption again begins, and myriads of tiny root hairs 

 pump up watery solutions of nutriment and various salts. These 

 are carried to the now swelling buds where formative processes 

 and growth elongate the shoot and expand the leaf. Buds long 

 wrapped in winter sleep toss back the protecting scales. In a 

 multitude of ways the different shrubs and trees now discard the 

 winter armature which has served so good a purpose, and liny 

 bud leaves show a multitude of variations from simple bud scale 

 to perfect leaf, a remarkable diversification in which the plant 

 from lateral members of the stem forms organs to serve such a 

 variety of purpose under such diametricall)' opposed environ- 

 mental conditions. 



