Fig. 95. Ash-Leaved Maple, or Box Elder
Fig. 96. Japan Maples
CHAPTER VIII
BROAD-LEAVED TREES HAVING COMPOUND LEAVES
The beginner is often in doubt as to whether a twig with several leaves is a compound leaf or a number of simple leaves. This is a very easy thing to decide. At the end of the leaf stem, where the leaf joins the twig or branch, is always a little bud. When the leaf drops off in the fall the bud remains, and in the spring begins to swell and finally develops into a leaf. This bud then is the promise of next year’s leaf, and it is always found at the base of the leaf stem, as shown at A. There is no such bud at the base of the leaflet on the compound leaf, as shown at B. If then we find no bud at B, we must look farther down until we discover it at C. This furnishes the test and we know that our specimen is a compound leaf.
Fig. 97. Method of distinguishing Compound and Simple Leaves