Dry fruits, usually elongated, containing generally several seeds, are called pods. If there is but one cell and the seeds are fastened along one side, Pea-like pods, or legumes. Locust. The term capsule indicates that there is more than one cell. Catalpa, Hibiscus.

Fig. 13.

All the dry, scaly fruits, usually formed by the ripening of some sort of catkin of flowers, will be included under the term [cone]. Pine, Alder, Magnolia. If the appearance of the fruit is not much different from that of the cluster of flowers, as in the Hornbeams, Willows, and Birches, the term catkin will be retained for the fruit also. The scales of a cone may lap over each other; they are then said to be [imbricated or overlapping], (Pine); or they may merely touch at their edges, when they are [valvate] (Cypress). When cones or catkins hang downward, they are pendent. If the scales have projecting points, these points are spines if strong, and prickles if weak. The parts back of the scales are bracts; these often project beyond the scales, when they are said to be [exserted]. Sometimes the exserted bracts are bent backward; they are then said to be recurved or reflexed.

Chapter V.
Winter Study of Trees.

Many of the peculiarities of trees can be studied much better during the winter and early spring than at any other time of the year. The plan of branching, the position, number, size, form, color, and surface of buds, as well as the arrangement of the leaves within the bud and the peculiarities of the scales that cover them, are points for winter investigation.

General Plan of Branching.—There are two distinct and readily recognized systems of branching. 1. The main stem is excurrent ([Fig. 3]) when the trunk extends as an undivided stem throughout the tree to the tip; this causes the spire-like or conical trees so common among narrow-leaved evergreens. 2. The main stem is deliquescent ([Fig. 4]) when the trunk divides into many, more or less equal divisions, forming the broad-topped, spreading trees. This plan is the usual one among deciduous trees. A few species, however, such as the Sweet Gum and the Sugar-maple, show the excurrent stem while young, yet even these have a deliquescent stem later in life. The English Maple and the Apple both have a deliquescent stem very early.

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 growth then form and often become quite large before autumn.

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. The common Locust, the Honey-locust, and the Sumacs are illustrations.

Buds.—Buds are either undeveloped branches or undeveloped flowers. They contain within the scales, which usually cover them, closely packed leaves; these leaves are folded and wrinkled in a number of different ways that will be defined at the end of this chapter.