230 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
leaves are on stout footstalks, which are two or three inches 
long, very downy and grayish green at first, but becoming nearly 
smooth and purple. At the base of the leaf, the footstalk sub- 
divides by throwing out two opposite ribs, nearly as large and 
long as the mid-rib, each of which has a large branch below, 
dividing the leaf into five imperfect lobes, and giving it a pen- 
tagonal outline. The ribs and veins are very prominent on the 
under surface, and each terminates in a large tooth. When 
freshly expanded, the leaves are profusely covered with a cot- 
tony down, which gradually disappears, and in autumn the 
upper surface is perfectly smooth, and of a light yellowish 
green; the under surface is lighter and still covered with down 
along the preminent purple nbs and veins. A striking feature 
in the appearance of the buttonwood is formed by the very 
large, conspicuous, and persistent stipules, with which every 
growing branch is garnished. ‘These arc always leat-like, some- 
times distinct, one on each side of the base of each leafstalk, 
oftener grown together, forming a complete ruille, cncircling 
and more than encircling the branch, and embracing it with a 
sort of sheath. When distinct, they are two or three inches 
long, an inch and a half broad, pointed, and, like the leaves, 
conspicuously toothed. When grown together, they look lke 
a leaf whose extreme point is on the side of the branch opposite 
the leaf of which they are an appendage. Above them, espe- 
cially at the base of a branchlet, is often found an additional 
pair of lance-shaped stipules, or a single one, two or three inches 
long. Both these kinds of stipules are, on the vigorous shoots, 
particularly on the sprouts from the stole or root, more lasting 
than the leaves, not being pushed off, hke them, by the growth 
of the buds. The leaves are usually five or six inches long, and 
seven or eight broad, but they are often much larger. Before 
falling, they turn usually to a pale yellow. 
The buds are short, broad, pyramidal, rounded at the tip, and 
of a chestnut brown, when they have been a little while exposed. 
They are enveloped by several gummy scales, and, in their 
early stage, enclosed in the footstalk of the leaf, which is there- 
fore necessarily deciduous. Each bud and the base of each 
branchlet is accordingly surrounded by the scar of a fallen leaf, 
