Seasonal Notes 



579 



plumelets" are the female flowers; they will develop into 

 cones later in the year. The larch is monoecious, having the 

 male and female flowers separate, but on the same tree, like 

 alder, hazel and others. It is the most prolific of our conifers. 

 It is not a native tree ; it was introduced in 1629. 

 Every reader knows the rustic saying : 



" If the oak's before the ash, 

 There will only be a splash, 

 But if the ash is before the oak, 

 There's sure to be a heavy soak." 



The ash is seldom in leaf before the oak. Given a high tem- 

 perature, no doubt the ash would unfold its buds earlier than 

 usual, but so with all other trees. At the time of writing the 

 reddish buds of the oak are on the point of bursting, but the 

 very dark, almost black ones of the ash remain tightly closed 

 and hard. 



Now is a good time to study buds. The symmetrical 

 arrangement and the beautiful colouring of the scales which 

 usually protect them are seen best with a good powerful 

 pocket lens. A bud is a shortened leaf-bearing axis, which, 

 by elongation, forms a stem or a branch. It may be terminal, 

 i.e., seated at the tip of a branch or stem, or it may be lateral, 

 i.e., produced at the side of the axis. 



The individual flowers of the Arum are extremely simple. 

 They have no conspicuous corolla or calyx. The pistil- 

 bearers are little more than seed-capsules with their seeds 

 and stigmas, and the stamen-flowers may be nothing more 

 than single stamens of anthers, for the latter are sessile, and 

 not provided with a stem or filament. A moment's thought 

 will convince any one that, for the individual flowers, no calyx 

 or corolla is needed. These structures are for the purpose 

 of wrappage and in order to attract insects. These ends are 

 fully served by the Spathe, which, whether green, white, or 

 coloured, is a conspicuous object. The white Arum probably 

 attracts night-insects and the coloured ones those which fly 

 by day. The lower part of the spathe affords admirable pro- 



