A. C. Apgar

“ Arrangement of Flowers.—Flowers, either solitary or clustered, grow in one of two ways; either at the end of the branches, being then called terminal, or in the axils of the leaves, then called axillary. The stem of a solitary flower or the main stem of a cluster is called a peduncle; the stems of the separate blossoms of a cluster are called pedicels. When either the flowers or the clusters are without stems, they are said to be sessile. ”

“ All the narrow-leaved evergreens, and many of the broad-leaved trees as well, show what is called definite annual growths; that is, a certain amount of leaf and stem, packed up in the winter bud, spreads out and hardens with woody tissue early in the year, and then, no matter how long the season remains warm, no additional leaves or stem will grow. The buds for the next year's [Pg 30] growth then form and often become quite large before autumn. ”

“ The leaves are rather thick and woody, and remain on the tree either all winter or at least until nearly all other deciduous leaves have fallen. Flowers insignificant; the staminate ones in catkins; blooming in spring. Fruit an acorn, which in the White, Chestnut, and Live Oaks matures the same year the blossoms appear; while in the Red, Black, and Willow Oaks the acorns mature the second year. They remain on the tree until late in autumn. The Oaks, because of their large tap-roots, can be transplanted only when small. Most of the species are in cultivation. ”

“ A plant with a single trunk of woody structure that does not branch for some distance above the ground, is called a tree. Woody plants that branch directly above the soil, even though they grow to the height of twenty feet or more, are called shrubs, or, in popular language, bushes. Many plants which have a tendency to grow into the form of shrubs may, by pruning, be forced to grow tree-like ”

“ This axillary bud may grow during the time the leaf remains on the tree, and afterward the growth of the strongest one of the others may give the tree two branches almost together.
Some plants form extra buds especially when they are bruised or injured; those which have the greatest tendency to do so are the Willows, Poplars, and Elms. Such buds and growths are called adventitious. By cutting off the tops or pollarding such trees, a very great number of adventitious branches can be made to grow. In this way the Willow-twigs used for baskets are formed. ”

“ No one can become familiar with leaves, and appreciate their beauty and variety, who does not study them upon the plants themselves. This chapter therefore will be devoted mainly to the words needed for leaf description, together with their application.
The Leaf.—In the axil of the whole leaf the bud forms for the growth of a new branch. So by noting the position of the buds, all the parts included in a single leaf can be determined. As a general thing the leaf has but one blade, as in the Chestnut, Apple, Elm, etc. ”

“ All the trees that grow wild, or can be cultivated out of doors, in the northern States belong to one class, the stems having a separable bark on the outside, a minute stem of pith in the center, and, between these, wood in annual layers. ”

“ Arrangement.—There are several different ways in which leaves are arranged on trees; the most common plan is the alternate; in this only one leaf occurs at a joint or node on the stem. The next in frequency is the opposite, where two leaves opposite each other are found at the node. A very rare arrangement among trees, though common in other plants, is the whorled, where more than two leaves, regularly arranged around the stem, are found at the node. ”

“ Just which axillary buds are most apt to grow depends upon the kind of tree, but trees of the same variety are nearly uniform in this respect. Most trees are therefore readily recognized by the form of outline and the characteristic branching. A good example of a tree [Pg 15] of very irregular growth is the Catalpa (Indian Bean) , shown in Fig. 4. The tendency to grow irregularly usually increases with age. The Buttonwood, for example, grows quite regularly until it reaches the age of thirty to forty years; then its new branches grow in peculiarly irregular ways. ”

“ The first twig (Ash) had opposite leaves and is 3 years old (the end of each year's growth is marked by dotted lines on all the figures) ; the year before last it had 6 leaves on the middle portion; last year it had 8 leaves on the end portion and 12 on the side shoots of the middle portion. The buds near the [Pg 33] end of the annual growth are strongest and are most apt to grow. The specimen illustrated was probably taken from the end of a branch of a rather young and luxuriantly growing tree. Thus the Ash must have quite a regular growth and form a regularly outlined tree. ”

“ A species so like the preceding (Betula lenta) as to be best described by stating the differences. Leaves and bark are much less aromatic. Leaves 3 to 5 in. long, not so often nor so plainly heart-shaped at base, usually narrowed; less bright green above, and more downy beneath; more coarsely serrate. Fruit not so long, and more ovate, with much larger and thinner scales, the lobes hardly spreading. A large tree, 50 to 90 ft. high, with yellowish or silvery-gray bark peeling off into very thin, filmy layers from the trunk. ”

“ One of the large cities of the United States has in its streets thousands of the most displeasing of these varieties and but few of the right sort, all because the nurseryman who originally supplied the city used root-cuttings from the disagreeable kind. ”

“ Leaves opposite, oblong-ovate, tapering at base, silvery on both sides, with small peltate scales. Branches often ending in sharp thorns. Fruit, scarlet berries the size of currants, forming continuous clusters on every branch and twig, but found only on the pistillate plants. They are juicy, somewhat sour, pleasant-tasting, and make excellent jelly; ripe in September. A small handsome tree, 5 to 20 ft. high, wild in the Rocky Mountains, and sometimes cultivated east. Its thorny-tipped branches make it a good hedge-plant. ”

“ When the main trunk of a tree extends upward through the head to the tip, as in Fig. 3, it is said to be excurrent. When it is soon lost in the division, as in Fig. 4, it is said to be deliquescent.
Chapter III. [Pg 17]
Leaves.
Leaves are the lungs of plants. The food taken in by the roots has to pass through the stem to the leaves to be acted upon by the air, before it becomes sap and is fit to be used for the growth of the plant. No portion of a plant is more varied in parts, forms, surface, and duration than the leaf. ”

“ Leaves small, deep green, with a whitish margin when young, forming with the twigs feathery-like, flat spray of a bluish-green color; leaves usually with a gland on the back. Cones scarcely 1⁄4 in. in diameter, of 8 to 10 scales. A magnificent tree in California, and where it is hardy (in rather moist soil, New York and south) it forms one of our best cultivated evergreens. The leading shoot when young is pendulous. ”

“ The different kinds of trees are readily known by the appearance of the bark of the trunk, due to the many varieties of surface caused by the allowance for growth. None of the characteristics of trees afford a better opportunity for careful observation and study than the outer bark.
The Birches have bark that peels off in thin horizontal layers—the color, thinness, and toughness differing in the different species; the Ashes have bark which opens in many irregular, netted cracks moderately near each other ”

“ Leaves evergreen, flat, scattered, generally whitened beneath, appearing somewhat 2-ranked by the directions they take. Fertile catkins and cones erect on the upper side of the spreading branches. Cones ripening the first year; their scales thin and smooth, and the bracts generally exserted; scales and bracts breaking off at maturity and falling away, leaving the axis on the tree. A great number of species and varieties have been planted in this country, but few if any besides those here given do at all well in our dry and hot climate. ”

“ Leaves ovate, smooth, dark green; leaf-stems hairy at edge. This plant is a native of Europe, and in its tree form furnishes the white wood used for wood-engraving.
Var. subfruticosa (dwarf boxwood) grows only a foot or two high, and is extensively used for edgings in gardens. The tree form is more rare in cultivation, and is of slow growth, but forms a round-topped tree. ”

“ Many shrubby plants are introduced; some because they occasionally grow quite tree-like, others because they can readily be trimmed into tree-forms, others because they grow very tall, and still others because they are trees in the Southern States. ”

“ Trees from 20 to 80 ft. high (sometimes only shrubs) , with mostly horizontal branches, thin, scaling bark, dense habit of growth, and dark foliage. Wood light, fine-grained, durable; the heart-wood of a handsome dark red color. Wild throughout; several varieties are found in cultivation. Many other species from China, Japan, California, etc., are occasionally cultivated, but few are large enough to be called trees, and those that are large enough are not of sufficient importance to need specific notice. ”

“ Leaves large, truncated at base, 5-lobed, with blunt notches, the lobes irregularly serrated and notched, silvery white, and, when young, downy beneath. Flowers light yellowish-purple, preceding the leaves, in crowded umbels along the branches. Wings of fruit large and forming about a right angle; ripe early in June. A rather large, rapidly growing, and usually somewhat weeping tree, with soft white wood. Special cut-leaved and weeping varieties are sold at the nurseries. Wild along river-banks, and extensively cultivated in the streets of cities. ”

“ Leaves with palmate veining are palmately lobed or notched; those with pinnate veining are pinnately lobed or notched. While the term lobe is applied to all great teeth of a leaf, whether rounded or pointed, long or short, still there are four terms sometimes used having special signification with reference to the depth of the notches. Lobed indicates that the notches extend about one fourth the distance to the base or midrib ”

“ Leaves much smaller and of a darker color than the American Elm, obovate-oblong, abruptly sharp-pointed, doubly serrated, rough. Fruit smooth, with the wing deeply notched. A tall and beautiful cultivated tree, with the branches growing out from the trunk more abruptly than those of the American Elm, and thus forming a more pyramidal tree. A score of named varieties are in cultivation in this country, some with very corky bark, others with curled leaves, and still others with weeping branches. ”

“ Though many consider a large part of the vegetable kingdom of little importance, and unworthy of any serious study, there are few who do not admire, and fewer still who do not desire to know, our trees, the monarchs of all living things. ”

“ Leaves oblong-ovate, taper-pointed, very sharply doubly serrate, downy beneath, with 11 to 15 straight veins on each side of the midrib; buds acute. The hop-like fruit 2 to 3 times as long as wide; full grown and pendulous, 1 to 3 in. long, in August, when it adds greatly to the beauty of the tree. A small, rather slender tree, 30 to 50 ft. high, with the bark on old trees somewhat furrowed; wood white and very hard and heavy; common in rich woods, and occasionally cultivated. ”

“ Leaves large, roundish, ovate, pointed, serrate, wavy, deep green above, pale and downy with soft, white-cottony hairs beneath; stipules somewhat crescent-shaped. Catkins large, oval, numerous, almost sessile, blooming much before the leaves appear, and of a showy yellow color. A moderate-sized tree, 15 to 30 ft. high, with spreading, brown or purplish branches. Frequent in cultivation; from Europe; growing well in dry places. The Goat-willow is the one generally used for the stock of the artificial umbrella-formed "Kilmarnock Willow." ”

“ Leaves lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, heart-shaped, truncate or sometimes acute at base, taper-pointed, sharply serrate, smooth above, pale-downy beneath; stipules often large, kidney-shaped, and toothed, sometimes small and entire. Catkins appearing with or before the leaves along the sides of the stem; stamens 2; scales dark or black, hairy, persistent. Shrub or small tree, 8 to 20 ft. high, very common in low and wet places. ”

“ There are but 3 species that grow at all tree-like.
C. flórida.
1. Córnus flórida, L. (Flowering Dogwood.) Leaves ovate, pointed, acutish at base. Flowers in a head surrounded by 4 white bracts, making the whole cluster look like a single large flower 3 in. broad. Abundant in May and June. Fruit a small, bright red drupe with a single 2-seeded nut. Ripe in August. A large shrub or low tree 15 to 40 ft. high, with broad, roundish head. Common on high ground throughout, and one of the finest small trees in cultivation. A variety with the bracts quite red is also cultivated. ”

“ There are many examples among the smaller plants, but rarely one among the trees, of indefinite annual growth; that is, the plant puts forth leaves and forms stems throughout the whole growing-season. ”

“ Leaves rather long, 1⁄2 in., linear, awl-shaped, in whorls of threes, prickly-pointed, upper surface glaucous-white, under surface bright green. Fruit globular, 1⁄4 in. or more in diameter, dark purple when ripe, covered with light-colored bloom. A shrub or small tree with spreading or pendulous branches; common in dry, sterile soils. There [Pg 199] are a great many varieties of this species in cultivation, but few of them grow tall enough to be considered trees.
Var. Hibernica (Irish Juniper) grows erect like a column. Var. Alpina is a low creeping plant. ”

“ Most Willows show the stipules on the young luxuriant growths.
Fig. 8.
Veining.—The leaves of most trees have a distinct framework, the central line of which is called a midrib; sometimes the leaf has several other lines about as thick as the midrib, which are called ribs; the lines next in size, including all that are especially distinct, are called veins, the most minute ones being called veinlets (Fig. 8) .
Kinds.—Leaves are simple when they have but one blade; compound when they have more than one. ”

“ Leaves evergreen, 2-ranked, crowded, linear, flat, curved, acute. Fruit a nut-like seed within a cup 1/3 in. in diameter; red when ripe in the autumn. As this species is somewhat diœcious, a portion of the plants will be without fruit. A widely spreading shrub rather than a tree, extensively cultivated under nearly a score of named varieties. ”