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The Musetim Gazette 



SEASONAL NOTES. 



The following wild flowers — together with the majority of 

 those alluded to in our notes for January and February — may 

 be seen in March : Marsh Marigold, Wood Anemone or 

 Windflower, Sweet Violet, Sloe or Blackthorn, Strawberry- 

 leaved Cinquefoil, Golden Saxifrage, Mezereon (very rare in 

 the wild state), Spurge Laurel, Common Elm, Wych Elm, 

 Yew, Daffodil, Snowdrop, Butcher's Broom, Alder, Aspen, 

 and the various species of willows and poplars. 



Now is the time to study catkins. Go to the bank of a 

 pool or stream, and you will find those of the willow and 

 alder in abundance. In the willow the male and female 

 flowers are on separate trees. Such trees are called dioecious 

 by botanists. The male catkins of the willows are the very 

 golden ones ; those of the female are silvery green, never 

 golden. The pods are ripe in June ; to watch the opening of 

 these is a very instructive lesson. 



The alder is monoecious, that is, it has the male catkins and 

 female cones on the same branch. Like the majority of 

 catkins, those of the alder appear before the leaves. They 

 are produced at the extremity of branchlets, the long droop- 

 ing male catkins on the lower branchlets ; the small female 

 flowers (cones) on the upper ones. The male catkins may be 

 two or three inches long ; the female cones do not exceed 

 half an inch in length. 



In the hazel the male flowers appear in autumn, but remain 

 in an unexpanded state until March (February in very mild 

 seasons), when they open. The golden tassels of the male 

 flowers are very familiar to all, but the little female flowers, 

 with their crimson styles, are frequently overlooked. The 

 difference in the number of seeds produced by catkin-bearing 

 plants is very remarkable. The willow may produce a 

 million seeds on a single spike, the hazel usually not more 

 than four. The former is dispersed by wind, and must be 



