SALLOW CATKINS 195 
spring—those long, limp catkins which dangle in 
the wind and shed showers of yellow pollen. The 
so-called Lambs’ Tails are really strings of male 
flowers. The female flowers, from which the nuts 
are developed, might be mistaken by the novice for 
buds. They grow on the same branch as the male 
catkins, are reddish in colour, and each budlike 
catkin is really a cluster of flowers, all of which have 
styles and stigmas. The stigmas, which are red, 
appear as a kind of feathery tip to the catkins. 
The catkins of the Hazel appear before the leaves, 
and this is a very wise arrangement, for the Hazel 
is “ wind-fertilized.”’” The male flowers produce and 
shed such showers of pollen in order that at least 
a few grains of it may be carried by the breezes to 
every female flower ; and the female flowers have 
their feathery stigmas exposed, as already described, 
so that they may catch some pollen as it is wafted 
about. Were leaves present while this business is 
being transacted they would be very much in the 
way. 
I know what you are going to say. You are 
thinking about another small tree, or shrub, which 
bears catkins, and which the youngsters call 
‘Palms ” or “ Pussies’ Feet.” The “ Palms” are 
the catkins of the Great Sallow, or Goat Willow 
(Salix caprea), which grows in this wood and in 
other situations about here. There is plenty of it 
by the side of the brook and in the old part of the 
quarry. Both male and female catkins of the 
Sallow appear before the leaves, but the sexes are 
always borne on separate plants. The male catkins 
are resplendent with their golden anthers, which 
