Sometimes a tree with very small flowers has such a multitude of them
that it attracts more attention and admiration when in blossom than the
trees with the largest flowers. A magnolia blossom as large as a cabbage
head must sacrifice delicacy to size. We must see it at a distance to
overlook its coarseness, and to escape its overpowering perfume.
An orchard in early May is transformed into fairyland by the opening of
millions of buds. Apple trees have just begun to unfold the new leaves.
They are pale green, and coated with white hairs, so that a silvery cloud
rests on the tree when the white blossoms, warmed with a tinge of pink,
come with a rush that takes one’s breath away.
A single apple blossom has its five flaring petals inside of five green
sepals that are the bud’s green overcoat. The stamens are many; the
pistils five in the centre of the flower. The plan of the flower is five.
The green lump below the blossom is the apple, already forming. Inside it
are the five cells of the core, and each has its seeds already forming,
if the five pistils have each caught a grain of pollen for each of the
embryo seeds its chamber of the core contained.
The delicate colour and rich fragrance of the apple orchard are
enchanting. To the honey bees these two signals call to a feast of
nectar. All unknown to them, they carry pollen on their furry bodies from
flower to flower, and thus enable the pistils to set seed. If the days
are damp and there are frequent showers while the apple trees are in
bloom, the bees are kept at home, and there will be but a small crop of
apples. Fortunately for the bees and for us, the blossoms do not all come
out on the same day. The trees and the bees are hopeful till the last
moment that the sun will shine, and the nectar be gathered, before the
opportunity of the year passes.
Flowers much like apple blossoms in form cover the twigs of hawthorn
trees. They are usually in many-flowered clusters, set off by the green
leaves. Fragrance, sometimes sickening sweet, draws the bees and other
insects to these trees. Nectar drips from the blossoms of some species.
The thorny branches spread sidewise, holding the blossoms out in wide
platforms. The red fruits, called haws, adorn the trees in late summer.
Plum and cherry trees are laden with white bloom, and heavy with
fragrance. Some species haven’t a leaf when they bloom. And these are
among the showiest of blossoming trees. In these flowers there are single
pistils, and but a single grain of pollen is needed to set seed. The
single seed is the pit, or stone, of this family known as the trees with
stone fruits.