Part 4
The wood of the Field Maple is too small to be of much use, but it is strangely and beautifully marked and veined with spots and stripes like the skin of a tiger or panther, and is eagerly bought for decorative purposes. The knots that grow on the roots were said to be worth their weight in gold, and in old history books you read that the thrones of great kings were made of Maple. Nowadays the wood is largely used for making small articles such as plates, and cups, and trays, and it can be cut so thin without breaking that the light may be seen through it.
In France the long slender Maple shoots are used for coachmen’s whips.
PLATE XI
THE SYCAMORE, OR GREAT MAPLE, OR MOCK PLANE
There is a good deal of confusion in people’s minds as to the right name for this familiar tree. Sycamore is not an English word, but is made from a Greek word meaning fig or mulberry. The tree has been so called because many years ago people believed that it was a relation of the fig tree which grows so abundantly by the roadside in Palestine. The leaves are a little alike, but there is no real resemblance between our English Great Maple and the Eastern Sycamore: the name has been given by mistake.
Another mistaken name given to this tree is Plane tree. The Great Maple is only a mock Plane tree or false Plane tree; it is not even a relation of the real Plane any more than it is a relation of the Fig or Sycamore. But mistakes even in names are very difficult to correct, and in many places, particularly in Scotland, you will find that Sycamore (1) or Plane tree is the name usually given to the Great Maple.
It is a large heavy tree, with a great central trunk covered with a gnarled bark which peels off in flakes, leaving patches of different shades. From every side of this central trunk there grow stout branches covered with masses of thick foliage, the thickest and heaviest foliage of any British tree.
If you look at the Sycamore tree as it stands in an open field, or in a hedgerow, with grass growing close to its very trunk, I think what will strike you most is how evenly it has grown all round. There are so many trees that grow all to one side if they are much exposed to a cold wind. Look at the Beech, or the Hawthorn, or the Elm on the crest of a ridge, and you will at once know from which direction the wind blows strongest and coldest, by seeing how the tree puts out all its best branches on the sheltered side. But the Sycamore tree is indifferent to cold, or even to the salt sea winds; it sends out its branches equally on every side, and there is always a thick roof of leaves at the top.
The Sycamore tree prefers a dry soil, in which it grows very quickly; and it will not die if transplanted.
In early spring the twigs bear many large fat buds (3), which are covered with soft downy pink scales. The Horse Chestnut is the only other tree which bears such large buds, but they are dark and very sticky.
In country places the children call the largest buds at the end of the Sycamore twig “cocks,” and the smaller buds which grow along the sides they call “hens.” When these buds open early in May you see how beautifully the leaves are folded fan-ways inside. Each leaf (2) is shaped like a large hand with five bluntly-pointed fingers; the edges are coarsely toothed, and the leaf is dark green above and a paler green underneath. They grow on long stalks, which are a reddish pink colour so long as the leaves are young, and each stalk is scooped into a hollow at the end, so that it may fit closely to the twig.
These leaves are not placed alternately on opposite sides of the branch, as in the Beech or Elm: they grow in clumps, or bouquets, and each pair of leaves is placed cross-ways to the pair above. Those that come out first have long stalks and are the largest; then the second pair is smaller, and the third pair smaller still, till the bouquet is finished with two tiny leaves in the centre.
Notice that the leaves of the Sycamore are often marked with sticky drops. By old writers these drops are called honey-dew. It is believed that the sap of the Sycamore is sugary, and some of this sugary juice escapes through the leaf pores to the surface. These handsome leaves are often spotted with small black dots, which are caused by a tiny plant. This plant makes its home on the Sycamore leaf, and unknowingly disfigures its kind host.
Before the leaves are quite out the flowers appear. They grow in drooping spikes (4), or large tassels of a pale yellowish green colour. Each tassel is made up of many separate flowers, and most of these flowers have a calyx with five to twelve narrow strap-shaped sepals, and a corolla of the same number of yellow-green petals. There is also a ring of slender stamens standing round a flat green cushion or disc. In the centre sits the seed-vessel, which has two curved horns at the top. But in the flower tassel you may also find flowers in which some of the parts are awanting: one flower will have stamens, but no seed-vessel, and its neighbour will have a seed-vessel and no stamens, while in a third the petals may be awanting. You must examine each flower till you find one which is perfect. These Sycamore flowers contain much honey, nearly as much as those of the Lime tree; and the bees are glad to hover round the tree flowers, which blossom long before those in the meadow are open.
After the flowers are withered the seed (5) develops wings like the Ash and the Elm. But these wings are very different from those of any other tree. They are shaped like the letter U, with the two seeds at the bottom of the letter where it joins the stalk. Each seed is like a small pea, and is snugly packed in a horny case lined with the softest and silkiest down. When it is ripe the wind blows the winged seeds from the tree and carries them a long way. They fall into the ground, where the horny case prevents the young seed from rotting during the cold winter months before it is time for it to begin to sprout. Then when spring comes the baby seed bursts its covering and sends up two tiny green ribbon leaves which are the beginning of a new Sycamore tree. The wings of the Sycamore seed are beautifully tinged with pink.
The wood of the Sycamore or Great Maple is white and very soft, but it is closely grained. Sometimes you see big knobs on the tree trunk where a branch has died or been broken off, and cabinet-makers prize these knobs, as the wood is very curiously marked with beautiful veins and streaks. Maple wood will polish as smooth as satin, and the backs of violins are often made of it. In old books we read of table-tops that were made of curiously marked pieces of Maple, and it is told that more than eight hundred pounds was given for one of these Maple tables.
In Scotland the Sycamore tree was often called the dool tree, or tree of mourning, because the nobles used to hang disobedient servants or vanquished foes on its strong branches; and at Cassilis, in Ayrshire, there is a Sycamore tree which is well known to have been used for this cruel purpose.
PLATE XII
THE ORIENTAL PLANE
There are two kinds of Plane tree which have come to us as strangers from foreign lands and have taken kindly to our cold climate and biting winds. These are the Oriental or Eastern Plane and the Occidental or Western Plane. The differences between them are not great, and the one which you will most easily remember is, that in the Oriental Plane the leaf stalk is green, whereas in the Occidental Plane tree it is purply red. We owe a special debt of gratitude to these Plane trees because they add beauty to so many of the dingy streets and squares in our big cities.
The trunk of the Oriental Plane (1) is very smooth, and is usually ash-grey in colour; sometimes it is a very dark green. The outer layer of this trunk peels off in flakes, leaving large patches of greenish yellow, and these give the tree a curious speckled appearance. It is a tall, handsome tree, and if you look at it from a distance you see that the broad leaves group themselves into large masses with a wide space between each mass. This you can only see in a full-grown tree, and such trees are rarely met with in our dusty towns.
On account of its leaves the Oriental Plane tree is frequently confused with the Sycamore, so you must notice carefully wherein they differ. The leaves (2) of the Oriental Plane are shaped like a hand with five sharply-pointed fingers, and each finger is cut all round into sharp teeth. The leaves are very smooth, and light, and fine, and are as thin as paper. They will lie quite flat if you lay them on a table. Each leaf is placed alternately with its neighbour on the twig, the second leaf growing on the opposite side of the twig, but a little further up than the first leaf. In the Sycamore you remember that the leaves grow in pairs placed exactly opposite each other, and that the second pair is always placed cross-ways to the first pair? These Oriental Plane leaves are so smooth that the rain easily washes all dust and soot from them, and this is why this tree manages to live in a city better than those which have crinkled, or hairy, or sticky leaves, which catch and keep the choking dust.
In most trees the leaf buds are to be found growing between the base of the leaf stem and the twig which supports it. You will find no trace of such buds in the Oriental Plane; they are carefully hidden, and are tenderly protected in a marvellous way.
You see that the base of the leaf stalk is considerably swollen, and that round it there is a line? If you gently pull the leaf, it will come apart from the twig at this line, and then you will discover that the swollen part of the leaf stalk is hollow, and is fitted like a cap over the tiny leaf bud, which is cosily sheltered within. This baby leaf bud is very sensitive to cold, and has many wrappings as well as the leaf cap. Its outer case is lined with sticky gum, which keeps out any damp; then come many small scales covered with soft fur, and inside these lie the tiny leaves, wrapped in a quilt of soft, silky down. This silky down is golden-brown in colour, and it remains on the young leaf till it is quite grown up. Sometimes the young buds are tempted by bright sunshine to throw off their winter coverings too soon. Then if biting frost comes they all die, and the tree will bear no more buds that year. The Plane tree gets its name from a Greek word which means a shield, and this name was given because its broad, flat leaves cast a very welcome shade in hot Eastern lands.
In winter it is easy to recognize the Oriental Plane by its curious seeds. Hanging on the bare branches are strings of round bristly fruit-balls (5), three or four, or even five, threaded like large beads on a long slender chain. There are no seed balls such as these on the Sycamore tree, nor on its cousin the Field Maple.
These seed balls are very interesting. Early in spring you see them dangling in the air, and you must pluck one of the green chains and examine its round beads. In one ball are grouped together bunches of purple stamens (3), which have a few pointed, dry scales at the base of each group. As soon as these stamens are ripe and their pollen dust has been blown away, these balls shrivel and fall off. But close beside them, on a similar green chain, are dangling the seed balls (4). Inside these balls there is a soft green cushion, and all over this cushion are stuck small green seeds shaped like pears, each with a tiny point like a stalk standing up at the top. After the stamen dust has fallen on these seeds they enlarge into a small hard nut, and a tuft of bristly down grows up from the base of each seed. The ball becomes a dark brown colour, and it dangles all winter on the tree; then in spring, when the leaves are ready to burst their coverings, these brown balls fall to the ground and the dry seeds are blown away, each seed floating in the air by the aid of its bristly down.
In America these Eastern and Western Plane trees are called Button trees, because the seed balls resemble old-fashioned buttons.
The wood of the Oriental Plane is used by piano-makers, coach-builders, and cabinet-makers. It is a light brown colour, and is said to be very tough.
PLATE XIII
THE WHITE POPLAR OR ABELE TREE
In the old Greek legends we read that Hercules won a victory over Kakos on Mount Aventine. On the mountain grew a thick grove of Poplar trees, and Hercules, overjoyed with his triumph, bound a branch of the graceful leaves around his brow as a sign of victory. Soon afterwards he went down into the infernal regions, the place of tears and gloom, and when he came back to earth it was seen that the upper side of his leafy garland was darkened with the smoke of Hades, but that the under-side of the leaves had been washed silver white with the sweat which streamed from his brow. Ever since that day the leaves of the Aventine Poplar grow white on the under-side, and in course of time its seeds were brought by travellers to Britain, and the tree has taken kindly to our less sunny land. So the tale runs.
It is by these dark green leaves with their thick white lining that you will always know the White Poplar or Abele tree (1), and when you learn how many relations it has, and how closely they resemble each other, you will be glad to have this marked distinction by which you may easily know this member of the family.
The Poplar, like the Willows, prefers to grow in damp places. The most perfect trees are found in meadows close to a river. In France the people plant them along the river banks, and from far away you can trace the windings of the water by the tall Poplar spires which edge its banks.
The Poplars are very fast-growing trees; they will shoot up to a great height in the life-time of a man, and for this reason they are often planted where a screen is quickly required. The lower part of the trunk is dark and is deeply furrowed, but the upper is a dingy yellow colour, and on it there are many black streaks.
Early in March the White Poplar begins to flower. It is one of the catkin-bearing trees, and high on the upper branches there dance and dangle long slender woolly tails of a purplish red colour. These are the stamen catkins (4), and you must pick one to pieces and see how beautifully it is made.
The stamens are grouped together in little bunches of from eight to thirty on a round disc, and at the foot of this disc, on one side, rises a scale which is green on the lower half and reddish brown on the upper half. This scale is deeply and irregularly toothed all round the edge, and is surrounded with fine silk which stands up like a fan. These bunches of stamens are placed all round the catkin tail, with the scales nearly covering the purple stamen heads. As soon as the pollen dust in the stamen heads is ripe and the wind has shaken it out of their dust-bags, the catkin shrivels and falls to the ground. You will find the ground strewn with them in early spring.
But the White Poplar has another catkin flower which bears the seeds, and this flower grows on a separate tree. These seed catkins (3) are stouter and shorter, and are not nearly so noticeable as the long stamen catkins. The green seed-vessel sits in a tiny cup, and on the top of the seed you see a cross of four yellow rays. On one side of the cup rises a scale which is brown at the upper edge and is fringed with down as in the stamen catkin. The wind brings the stamen dust to the four yellow rays on the top of the little seed-vessel, but if there should be no stamen-bearing trees growing near, then the White Poplar can produce no new seeds; it remains barren.
The leaves (2) of the White Poplar are triangular in shape and are deeply jagged all round. When in bud the sides of the leaf are rolled towards the centre, so that the under-side of the leaf, with its thick white lining, is turned outward. The young branches and buds are also thickly covered with fine white down.
The Poplar leaves never seem to be still; they dance and sparkle in the sunshine, and even on quiet days you will see them fluttering. In autumn these leaves turn golden yellow before they fall.
The wood of the White Poplar is too quickly grown to be very durable. It is largely used for making children’s toys, because it does not readily split when nails are driven into it. It will not burn easily, and for this reason it makes good floors for dwelling-houses.
Besides the White Poplar or Abele tree there are two other Poplars which are fairly common in this country. One is the Lombardy Poplar, which grows tall and slender like a church spire; its branches rise upward like the flame of a torch, and the tree trunk is clothed to the very ground with withered branches, which never spread outwards, but grow close to the main stem. There is no difficulty in recognising the Lombardy Poplar.
The Black Poplar is also common in many parts of Britain. Its leaves are not lined with white; they are heart-shaped, with no jagged edges, but with dainty little teeth cut evenly all round. The heads of the stamens, which grow in groups on the catkin tail, are very dark purple, and they hang from the end of twigs, which are rough with the scars of last year’s leaves.
PLATE XIV
THE ASPEN
“Variable as the shade By the light, quivering aspen made.”
--Scott.
The Aspen (1) is a member of the Poplar family, and in many ways it resembles its cousins. But you will always know an Aspen tree by its leaves (2). These are never still unless when a storm is brooding and the air is perfectly calm; at all other times they shake and quiver incessantly, and you can hear the gentle rustle they make as each leaf rubs against its neighbour. In the Scottish Highlands the country people tell you that the Aspen trembles because at the Crucifixion the cross of Christ was made of Aspen, and the tree must always shudder at the recollection of the cruel purpose it served.
The Aspen is usually found growing in copses, or in meadow lands, where it flourishes best in a damp soil; but it is also found on mountain ground, and is very common in the north of Scotland. It is not a long-lived tree: the heart of it begins to decay after fifty or sixty years, just at the age when many of our most familiar trees are at their finest. The wood is very soft, and is of little use either for building or for manufacturing purposes; but it is beautifully white, and sculptors use it for decorative carving; also many of the wooden blocks required by engravers for printing are made of Aspen wood.
The Aspen is one of our catkin-bearing trees. Early in spring you will see dangling on the branches long fluffy tails, which you must pluck and examine carefully. There are two kinds of flowering catkins on the Aspen, and both kinds may be found growing on the same tree. Sometimes you find them close beside each other on the same branch.
In the stamen catkin (3) you see many bunches of tiny stamens with bluey-purple heads: these bunches are dotted all over the catkin tail, and each stamen bunch is nearly hidden by a large scale which rises at one side. This scale is green in the lower half and pale brown in the upper half, and its edges are cut into deep jagged points. This jagged scale lies above the stamen bunch, so that you can just see their heads appearing under the torn edge of the scale. Each stamen is surrounded by a mass of soft grey woolly down, which makes all the catkin look fluffy and silky.
The seed catkin (4) of the Aspen looks much the same as the stamen catkin; it is a long, dangling fat tail, covered with fluffy grey down; but it has no stamens. This catkin bears the seed-vessels, and each seed-vessel resembles a small green pea sitting in a tiny green cup. This pea splits open at the top, and you see four pale pink points rising from the opening. These points are waiting for the stamen dust to reach them, and as soon as that happens they shrivel and disappear; then the seed busies itself in preparing the new plant. Above each green seed-vessel there stands a scale with the edge cut into large torn-looking points. These scales nearly cover the seed-vessel, and they look like brown splashes on the bed of soft fluffy down.
When the seeds are ripe the catkins fall from the tree; the seeds separate from the tail, and the wind blows them a long distance by the aid of the fluffy down which surrounds each seed.
The Aspen leaves (2) are very dainty and pretty. Each leaf grows at the end of a long slender stalk which is flattened like a ribbon, and is placed edge-ways to the twig. The stalk is not strong enough to hold the leaf upright, so it droops, unless when the breeze lifts it in the air, and then you hear a constant rustle-rustle, as if the leaves were whispering to each other. These Aspen leaves are nearly round, and they have evenly-cut teeth on the edges. They are rather small and are dark in colour, and there is no white lining underneath except the soft down which you often find on very young leaves, and which soon disappears.
Through the grass beside its root the Aspen sends up a great many young shoots which are called suckers. The leaves on these young suckers are heart-shaped, and the edges are quite smooth, without any teeth.
Cattle are very fond of these young leaves, so are deer, and goats, and even the beaver. In some places people strip the Aspen leaves from the trees and give them to the cattle, which eat them greedily.
PLATE XV
THE WHITE WILLOW
To distinguish different members of the Willow family is very difficult. It contains many brothers and sisters who are so much alike that you would require to study nothing but willows for many a day if you wished to know each from the other.
In this book are described three different Willows. The first is a lofty tree with a thick trunk and spreading branches; the second is usually a bushy mass of slender twigs bending over the river bed; and the third is a small creeping shrub which twines itself among the roots of the heather, and carpets the ground with masses of silky down. And I think if you know well these three kinds of Willow, you should be able to group the other members of the family around them.
The White Willow (1) is the name given to the largest Willow tree, and very beautiful it is in early spring when the leaves unfold. It has a thick trunk covered with rough, rugged bark, and it sends out large branches, from which grow many smooth, slender twigs. The leaves (2) appear about the middle of May, long narrow leaves which taper to a point, and from a distance you would think that the edges were quite smooth. But when you pick a leaf you find that there are dainty little teeth cut all round the edge. These narrow leaves are covered on both sides with a silky grey down; this gives them a pale, silvery-grey colour, and from a distance you can easily recognise a White Willow tree by the glistening of this beautiful grey foliage, so different from the vivid young green of the Larch and the yellow-green of the Limes and Sycamores.