STEMS 



649 



to branch in diverse directions, the greater is the possibility of maxi- 

 mum foliage display. A broad-based cone, consisting of an excurrent 

 trunk with branches diverging therefrom from base to apex at a con- 

 stantly decreasing angle, would seem to be the best of all contours for 

 lighting, in proportion to the amount of structural material involved. 



Fig. 956. — A bur oak tree (Qusrcus macrocarpn) in winter, showing representative 

 -deliquescence ; note the tortuous branching characteristic of this species of oak ; Chicago, 

 111. — Photograph by Land. 



Habits of this sort reach their culmination in various arboreal conifers, 

 but are found in scarcely less perfection in some dicotylous trees, as the 

 oaks and maples, though in the latter the cones commonly are shorter 

 and broader and often truncated (figs. 844, 845). In many alpine coni- 

 fers (fig. 955) and in various trees of warm climates (as the cypress and 



