“Ha!” she cried. “Everyone is wrong! It isn’t a walnut and it isn’t an oak. It’s a Liriodendron tulipifera!”
“Oh, that’s the scientific name,” laughed Miss Gordon.
“It says tulip tree underneath,” revealed Veve.
“A tulip?” repeated the Brownie Scout leader, deeply puzzled. “That’s odd. To my way of thinking, it doesn’t look a bit like a tulip tree.”
“Aren’t the leaves of a tulip dark green and very glossy?” inquired Connie. She felt quite crestfallen to have made a mistake.
“I always thought so,” replied Miss Gordon. “Also, the leaves of a tulip usually are restless, almost like those of a poplar tree. Apparently though, I’m not as clever about recognizing varieties of trees as I thought.”
Starting on down the trail, the Brownies soon came to another interesting-looking specimen.
“Well, there at least is a tree that no one can mistake,” declared the Brownie leader. “Who agrees with me that it’s a red maple?”
“I do!” laughed Connie.
“Of course!” shouted Jane. “No one can mistake a maple.”