4 INTRODUCTION 



is often much harder. They are, therefore, known 

 familiarly as hard woods, or, since they as a rule 

 bear broad, net-veined leaves, as broad-leaved trees. 



Though many trees multiply themselves by means 

 of suckers, every species in its native country, 

 when it has reached maturity, produces seed. The 

 age of the tree at its first fruiting varies within 

 wide limits : the seeds differ markedly from one 

 another, as, for example, the large polished " chest- 

 nut '' of the Horse-chestnut and the small rough 

 kernel of the Cherry; and the seedlings which 

 result from their sprouting bear seed-leaves or 

 cotyledons which are commonly very unlike the 

 leaves of the mature tree. Thus the strap-shaped 

 cotyledons of the Sycamore bear no resemblance to 

 the broad five-pointed leaves which the tree pro- 

 duces at a later stage. 



Every stem and every branch, so long as it 

 remains capable of elongation, ends in a bud. A 

 bud is a growing-point protected by over-lapping 

 rudimentary leaves ; but the buds of different 

 kinds of trees vary in position, in form, and in 

 constitution. Those of the Ash, for example, are in 

 opposite pairs, while the long tapering brown 

 buds of the Beech spring singly at an angle from 

 the twig, and the shorter and blunter ones of the 

 Hornbeam are pressed against the shoot from 

 which they spring. 



During the so-called leafless season of winter, 

 we may distinguish the various species of trees 

 not only by the characters of their buds, but also 

 by the bark of the stem and the form and 



