THE SYCAMORE. 



107 



country^ as may easily be inferred from the great 

 nmnber of seedlings whicli are to be found spring- 

 ing spontaneously from the groimd in the vicinity 

 of Sycamores which have begun to bear seeds. In 

 its earliest stage, it is a puny herbaceous plant, 

 furnished with two, or sometimes more, narrow 

 smooth leaves entire at the edges : these are the 

 cotyledonous leaves. Shortly afterwards (for 

 during the whole of its existence it is a rapid 

 grower), a few pointed and notched leaves, tinged 

 with pink, are produced in the centre of these ; 

 and as the nursling increases in size, others ap- 

 pear, having the five-pointed, unequally-notched 

 lobes which characterize the matured foliage of the 

 tree. At the end of a year it will have attained, 

 under favourable circumstances, the height of 

 eighteen inches. As a sapling it is remarkable 

 for its straight growth, smooth purplish-brown 

 bark, and large leaf-buds. In this stage of its 

 growth it is a great favourite with school-boys, 

 who, in the spring, when the sap begins to rise, 

 slip olf a cylinder of bark, and by removing a por- 

 tion of the pith and wood, manufacture the shrill 

 and unmusical instrument, a whistle. It produces 

 flowers before it is twenty years old, but does not 

 generally perfect its seeds until it has attained at 

 least that age. In fifty or sixty years it reaches 

 its full growth, and in the course of thirty or forty 

 years more, thoroughly ripens its wood. 



The leaves of the Sycamore in autumn are fre- 

 quently observed to be covered with dark-coloured 

 spots. This appearance is produced by numerous 

 blackish fungi {Xyloma acerinum\ which, as soon 

 as the first sharp frost has scattered the leaves on 

 the ground, commence their office of converting the 



