THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



^70 



succulent roots of the turnip and cairot, 

 are so many reservoirs of reserve 

 materials, which in the undisturbed 

 course of nature are used up in the 

 second year's growth of the plant. In 

 annual plants the only store of reserve 

 materials is in the seeds, and it is 

 interesting to watch the gradual with- 

 drawal of all nutritive substances from 

 the leaves before the final decay of the 

 plant. In trees and shrubs the re- 

 serves are withdrawn to the stem in 

 autumn, when, the function of the 

 leaves being ended, they drop off, 

 leaving a well-defined scar on the sur- 

 face of the stem. In the thick fleshy 

 leaves of evergreen plants a certain 

 supply will remain for a season or two 

 till it disappears before the leaf ulti- 

 mately decays and drops off. This 

 retreat and absorption of the brilliant- 

 coloured chlorophyll is the cause of 

 our sober-hued landscape when the 

 woods are dressed in the '^sere and 

 yellow leaf,'' and 

 Autumn sae pensive in yellow and grey " 



reminds us of the fleeting nature of 

 all organic existence. Although the 

 autumnal glories of our plantations are 

 pale and feeble compared to the blazing 

 colours of the North American forest 

 in the " fall," a faint reflex of which 

 we have in the vivid tints of the Vir- 

 ginian creeper ; yet there are several 

 of our native trees, the leaves of wliich 

 assume a variety of subdued shades of 

 brown and yellow, which when massed 



and contrasted lend a pleasing charm 

 to our woods in "chill October." 

 foremost of these to change colour are 

 the horse chestnut and sycamore, which 

 as they are amongst the earliest to put 

 forth their leaves in spring, are the 

 first to shed them in autumn. Rival- 

 ling them in depth of colouring are the 

 oak and beech, the elm being even less 

 russet in autumn than in spring, whilst 

 the ash leaves drop silently after the 

 first night's frost as leaden-hued as 

 they are light and graceful in outline. 

 The change of colour in the birch is 

 happily expressed in the plaintive 

 ballad of "Lucy's Flittiu'" 



" 'Twas when the wan leaf frae the birk 

 tree was fa'in.'" 



The leaves of the poplar fall early and 

 show but little alteration in hue ; but 

 they illustrate well how the younger 

 and consequently more vigorous leaves 

 remain attached to the stem after the 

 others have faded and fallen : this is 

 particularly noticeable in the Lom- 

 bardy poplar so generally planted in 

 towns for its quick growth. The 

 peculiarly quivering leaves of the aspen, 

 which are popularly supposed to have 

 acquired their tremulousness from the 

 cross having been fashioned from the 

 wood of this tree, are more prosaically 

 seen to have their mobility enhanced 

 by having the somewhat rigid roundish 

 leaves attached to long, slender, verti- 

 cally-compressed petioles. It is an 

 item of rustic weather folk-lore, that 



