How do the scales differ from those of Horsechestnut?
How many scales and leaves are there?
How are they arranged?
Where does the flower-cluster come in the bud?
Do all the buds contain flower-clusters?
How does the arrangement of leaves and flower-clusters differ from that of
Horsechestnut?
How old is your branch?
Which buds develop most frequently?
How does this affect the appearance of the shrub?
COPPER BEECH (_Fagus sylvatica, var. purpurea_).
The buds are long and tapering, the scales thin and scarious, the outer
naked, the inner with long, silky hairs. Remove the scales one by one, as
in Lilac. The outer four or six pairs are so minute that the arrangement
is not very clear, but as we proceed we perceive that the scales are in
alternate pairs, as in Horsechestnut; that is, that two scales are exactly
on the same plane. But we have learned in the Lilac that the scales are
modified leaves, and follow the leaf-arrangement of the species. The
Beech is alternate-leaved, and we should therefore expect the scales to
alternate. The explanation is found as we go on removing the scales. At
the eighth or ninth pair we come upon a tiny, silky leaf, directly between
the pair of scales, and, removing these, another larger leaf, opposite the
first but higher up on the rudimentary stem, and so on, with the rest of
the bud. There are five or more leaves, each placed between a pair of
scales. Our knowledge of the parts of a leaf shows us at once that the
scales must be modified stipules, and that therefore they must be in
pairs.[1] Other examples of scales homologous with stipules are the
American Elm, Tulip-tree, Poplar and Magnolia. The leaves are plaited
on the veins and covered with long, silky hairs. The venation is very
distinct. The outer leaves are smaller and, on examining the branch, it
will be seen that their internodes do not make so large a growth as the
leaves in the centre of the bud.
[Footnote 1: See the stipules of the Pea, p. 31.]
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--Copper Beech. 1. Branch in winter state: _a_,
leaf-scar; _b_, bud-scar. 2. Branch, with leaf-buds expanding, showing the
plicate folding of the leaves.]
The leaf-scars are small, soon becoming merely ridges running half round
the stem.
The bud-rings are very plain and easily counted. For this reason, and
because it branches freely, it is a good tree for measurements of growth,
as is seen in the following tables. Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4: were made by a
class of girls, from fourteen to sixteen, from a tree on my lawn. No. 5
was made by a pupil, whom I taught by correspondence, from a tree of the
same species in another town. No. 6 was made by myself from my own tree.
The measurements of the first four tables were somewhat revised by me, as
they were not perfectly accurate. The pupils should always be cautioned
to measure from the beginning of one set of rings to the beginning of the
next.[1]
[Footnote 1: Care must be taken to select branches well exposed to the
light. Of course there are many circumstances that may aid or hinder the
growth of any particular branch.]