and may be found very soon after the
eggs are laid on several kinds of
trees, especially oak, ash, birch and
beech. They belong to the Geometers
have many of the common eccen-
tricities of the " loopers." The moths
themselves often have the appearance of
exquisitely coloured leaves, and the cater-
pillars look like the leaf-stems. While
they are eating leaves they have a curious
habit of poising themselves on the edges
and on the twigs, and, as their colouring
is a deep rich brown, with faint lighter
patches, they pass very well as part of the
leaves and stems.
The early thorn is less conspicuous
and
in
The March Moth (Anisopteryx azscularia]
is very destructive in gardens. By
the end of March the female (which
is wingless) has deposited her eggs
in neat rings round the twigs of plum
and other trees. The eggs are em-
bedded with woolly down by the
moth, which has a tuft of this
material at the end of her body.
59
THE PAGEANT OF NATURE
colour, for its wings are of a pale ochreous-
grey, which shades only slightly into violet,
and the edges of the wings are less dentated
than those of the purple variety. Its larvae,
A young Purple Thorn Moth (Selena Utia-
lunaria) is always a thing of beauty. It flies in
April and May, and comes to rest with wings
upright, like the butterfly. The fore-wings
are sharply angled, and of a rich purplish
tinge, or sometimes a delicate rose colour.
which are of a bark-like grey or brown,
feed on alder, willow or fruit-trees, and
have also a strong resemblance to the twig
or leaf-stem on which they rest. Though
these moths are common throughout the
British Isles, the larvae do no harm.
Closely related is the common brimstone
moth, which also holds its wings vertical or
half- raised, and is frequently mistaken for
a butterfly. Indeed, in some ways the brim-
stone moth is not unlike the brimstone
butterfly. Both appear occasionally as
early in the year as February, though, of
course, it must be remembered that the
butterfly has hibernated through the first
cold months and was born the previous
summer, whilst the moth is young and just
out of its chrysalis. Still, they are on the
wing together ; and even the shape and
colour of their beautiful angled wings are
much alike.
The real spring moths, plenty of them,
active and plump, make red-letter days
for the birds. When the last privet
berry, the last of the hips and haws, even
the last mistletoe berry, has been eaten by
the hungry youngsters who were born
nearly a year ago, then the first little fat
downy bodies, creeping out into the light
from their chrysalis cases, are hailed with
glee, much as we ourselves hail the first
spring lambs !
The Cabbage Moth (M. Brassicd) beside its chsstnut-eoloured pupa ease is at first a
pretty species. Its fore-wings are of a rich brown, and look as if they had been
dusted with gold ; but this appearance soon wears off. This moth lays bun-shaped
yellowish-white eggs, first about the end of April or the beginning of May, and
continues laying till August. As a garden foe, it has few rivals.
60
Trees and Their Life Story
Larches in winter, growing on the buried walls of the old Roman City of Yerulamium
(St. Albans). Their tall loose pyramids are very decorative, especially when they stand
silhouetted against the sky in a frieze-like row.
l.-TREES AND THE LANDSCAPE
By G. CLARKE NUTTALL, B.Sc.
THE aeroplane has brought an entirely
new point of view into life the study
of landscape in bulk and it has en-
riched our ideas about trees as it has about
all the other features of the landscape.
The swiftly moving traveller by car or
train sees the trees from one point of
view only, but the aeroplane passenger gets
an infinite number of varying views, from
the one right overhead which gives him a
" plan," through every possible angle,
down to the long, slanting view which is
almost an " elevation." In these large
views detail of all sorts is obliterated and
only contour and shade tell, so that his per-
ception of the trees of the countryside
becomes purely a matter of form and colour.
There lie the trees before him just pyramids
and spires, needles and airy patches, great
rounded heads with minor variations, crowns
cut into segments, irregular oblongs and
solid blocks. Dark green, light green,
yellow and blue, some are recognizable
with absolute certainty as familiar friends ;
others, like casual acquaintances, require
further knowledge ; while some appear as
strangers needing a formal introduction
from one who knows them.
In every community there are personalities
which stand out, some for their greatness,
61
THE PAGEANT OF NATURE
others for their peculiarities. So in the
world of trees there are certain kinds of
trees which, wherever they grow, are always
an arresting feature in any landscape from
larches that markedly change colour by
discarding their summer dress of needle-
like leaves. Firs, too, blue touched with
silver, stand out pyramidal, though less
Photo: G. Clarke Nutta'l.
In winter as in summer the Oak stands acknowledged "Monarch of the Forest."
Silhouetted against the sky in stark nakedness, its great outspread limbs zigzagging
in "knees" and "elbows" give the impression of immense strength and endurance.
whatever aspect it is viewed. Thus the
tall loose pyramids of the larches invariably
catch the eye pyramids formed by a central
column straight and firm from which
radiate slender horizontal or slightly falling
branches, widely stretching at the bottom,
but lessening little by little to the summit.
Very decorative they are in spring-time
touched with beautiful pale green colour,
though in winter tending to become
ragged and dead-looking. Then there are
the pyramids of the spruces grown-up
Christmas trees neat and trim-looking,
with their dainty spire on top, somewhat
denser and darker than the larches ; and
the solid pyramids of some of the
cedars which are symmetrical cones like
the wooden trees out of a Noah's
Ark. The spruces and cedars are alike in
summer and in winter ; it is only the
obviously so ; indeed, all this class of cone-
bearing trees is unmistakable, whether each
stands alone or whether grouped in woods,
but it is sometimes difficult to distinguish
between them at a distance.
The Scots pine, our only true native
among them, also starts life pyramidal wise,
but tends to lose its lower branches, as a man
loses his hair, so that ultimately it comes to
have a tall bare trunk, with a picturesque
flattened top of dark irregular boughs, that
adds character to any landscape.
There is one immensely tall thin pyramid
that can never be mistaken when it appears
in the view, though it has nothing to do
with the conifers, and that is the Lombardy
poplar, a variety of the black poplar. Now
the black poplar, a big loosely foliaged tree,
has perhaps of all trees the stiffest, straightest
branches, which rise upwards at a sharp
62
TREES AND THEIR LIFE STORY
angle to the trunk, just like an arm of one
of those jointed wooden Dutch dolls which
have black painted hair and such very pink
cheeks. In the Lombardy poplai this stiff
acute-angle type of branching has been
carried to an extreme, and the branches
have shut up to the trunk as the ribs of a
closed umbrella shut up to the stick. No
other tree at all resembles it.
Next, perhaps, in the view we are taking,
we should " spot " the airy irregular con-
tour of the silver birches, for nothing can
hide the gleaming silveriness of their
trunks nor the " drip " of the ends of
their branches.
When we turn to the greater forest trees
careful discrimination is necessary. Now
really to know a tree it is essential to regard
it with definite attention throughout the
too, to study it as it stands against the open
sky, so that in summer its contour as a whole,
and, in winter, every branch and twig may
be silhouetted clearly on it. At both
seasons the tree which stands pre-eminently
in the picture is the oak, Jove's own tree,
acknowledged " Monarch of the Forest."
Its contour is a flat oval, broader than high,
its trunk thick in proportion to its height,
so that it has an air of immense solidarity.
Its great branches, zigzagging in " knees "
and " elbows," stretch out horizontally,
and thus further emphasize the idea
of strength and endurance. Indeed, as
Oliver Wendell Holmes said, " this is
the mother-idea of the oak." And he
continued, " I wonder if you ever
thought of the single mark of supremacy
which distinguishes this tree from those
Photo: G Clarke Nuttalt.
The Oak in summer leafage defies gravity by choosing to develop its massive limbs in
the horizontal direction, which for fifty or sixty feet will support the strain of the
burden of leaves. Broader than tall, its trunk thick in proportion to its height, the
Oak has an appearance of great solidarity.
year summer in its leafage, winter in its around it. The others shirk the work of
stark nakedness. And, moreover, to see it resisting gravity ; the oak defies it. It
set by itself where it can develop in every chooses the horizontal direction for its
direction as its life force impels. It is best, limbs so that their whole weight may tell ;
63
AN AERIAL VIEW OF A WOODED
In striking contrast to the rounded crowns of the more massive trees, the delicate airiness of the
and the straggling clumps of Laurel, Hawthorn and Hazel lend
Photo : The Central Aerophoto Co., Ltd.
LANDSCAPE, NEAR GHERTSEY, SURREY.
Silver Birch, the lightness of the more stiff-limbed Poplars, the solid dark pyramids of the Conifers,
a grace and variety to the landscape as viewed from the air.
THE PAGEANT OF NATURE
and then stretches them out fifty or sixty
feet so that the strain may be mighty enough
to be worth resisting ... to start upwards
would mark infirmity of purpose, to bend
downwards weakness of organization." The
thought is somewhat fanciful but contains
a truth.
An oval contour, taller than broad, v\iih
a great sense of airiness and grace about it,
branches have rather a pretty fashion of
curving downwards and then up again to-
wards their tips. The trunk is tall and
rather slight considering the size of the tree.
Perhaps the commonest tree seen in any
panorama of Great Britain is the common
elm, a big tree possibly 125 feet high;
its branches are dotted with smallish
leaves and end in a network of fine
Photo : The Central Aerophoto Co., Ltd.
Density of foliage in the wide sweep of the woodlands, and distinctness of shape in
the crown contours of the commoner trees seen in the less thickly planted groves,
are the outstanding features brought to the ken of the aerial photographer. The Spruce
and the Elm stand out unmistakably, but when the Beech, the Sycamore, the Horse and
Spanish Chestnuts, and the Lime are grouped, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish
between them from above. The view is of Viscount Astor's house, Cliveden, Bucks.
marks out the ash is it not called the
" Venus of the Forest " ? There is nothing
of the solidarity of the sturdy uncompromis-
ing oak here. Its foliage is somewhat of a
lace work, and the sunshine gleams easily
through it. This airiness and lightness is
due to its leaves being cut up into little
leaflets usually nine one being terminal
and the other eight set in four pairs. Thus
they do not solidly block out the sunlight
as do the leaves of some of our trees. The
twigs which, in winter, show almost as
a haze round the crown. Indeed, this fring-
ing of its contour is one of the distinguishing
marks of the tree. Though so common
that it has been likened to a weed in some
parts of the land, it is not really a native,
but probably came in with the Roman
occupation, for its name, which dates from
the earliest days, is directly derived from
the Latin, Ulmus. A tree which perplexes
by its likeness and yet unlikeness to the
TREES AND THEIR LIFE STORY
PHoto: G. Clarke Niittall.
The Beech in wintep nakedness
is fairly easily recognised. Its
rather fine branching seems often
somewhat indeterminate, being
full of twists and sharp turns as
if it could not decide in which
direction its twigs should grow.
common elm is the wych elm, for
though elm-like in a general way
at a first glance, its branching is
fuller, its contour more regular,
and its leaves larger. Though less
frequent than the common elm it
is considered a native of Great
Britain.
When we come to those trees
whose crowns are more or less
regularly rounded and in this
particular the beech, the sycamore,
horse and Spanish chestnuts, and
the lime are grouped together it
becomes increasingly difficult to
distinguish between them without
the intimacies gained from a nearer
view. That is to say, it is difficult
when the leaves throng the
branches ; but in winter, when the
bare system of branching stands
revealed, recognition is much easier,
and, of course, the trunk and its
bark are almost infallible guides.
The great crown of the beech is
particularly dense and shade-giving
so dense indeed that little will
grow beneath it. Its trunk is
beautifully proportioned, with
smooth dark grey bark, and, in the
woods, it may be eighty feet high
before it branches. Indeed, a beech
wood, with its lovely smooth trunk
columns, its dark brown carpet of
dead leaves, and its reposeful dim-
ness, might well be the aisle of
some great Gothic cathedral. Out
in the open the branching begins
nearer the ground ; in winter
nakedness it seems rather to lack
character, being angular, inelegant
and full of twists and sharp turns
as if the tree could not deter-
mine in which direction its twigs
should grow. It is not so an-
gular and stiff as the oak,
Photo: G. Clarke Nuttall.
In summer the great crown of the Beech is
particularly dense and shade-giving so dense,
indeed, that little will grow beneath it. Its
beautifully proportioned smooth grey trunk rises
in the woods frequently to a height of eighty feet
before it branches. Out in the open the branching
begins nearer the ground.
67
THE PAGEANT OF NATURE
Photo: G. Clarke A~nttal'~
In winter* the contour of the Common Elm, in addition to the emphasis which nakedness
gives to its segmental outline, presents a network of fine twigs, which shows almost
as a haze around its crown. Indeed, this fringing of its contour is one of the
distinguishing marks of the tree.
of course, but undoubtedly it lacks suavity
of line.
In the sycamore and horse chestnut the
crowns are rather of a more voluptuous
type ; the horse chestnut in particular is so
ponderous, so reminiscent of a rich City man
who does himself well, that once known it
is for ever after unmistakable. The heavy
head of foliage, through whose density little
sunlight can penetrate, swells out here and
there, giving it a " hummocky " appear-
ance, and adding to the voluptuous impres-
sion. In summer silhouette it is just
massed greenery lighted up for a short space
by those wonderful spikes of white flowers,
as a Christmas tree is lighted up by its
Photo: G. Clarke Nuttall.
The Common Elm in summer is quite unmistakable by its irregular contour, often
broken up into segments. A big tree may be 125 feet high.
68
TREES AND THEIR LIFE STORY
candles. In the winter the massiveness of
its framework can be best appreciated, and
the fact noted that sometimes its branches
curve stifHy downwards and then up again.
The heavy rounded crown of the sycamore
is not quite so heavy or so im-
penetrable, for its silhouette re-
veals flashes of sunlight. The
crown of the lime, though also
heavy and dense, is distinguished
by a peculiar compactness and
neatness, while that of the sw r eet
chestnut is far more broken up
into segments and mounds than
any of the four others.
In our study of tree form
there yet remains one tree of
special grandeur and massiveness
to notice, one that stands out
as none other in a landscape,
pre-eminent in sombre n e s s ,
density, and unchangeableness
an unchangeableness that through
winter and summer has persisted,
perchance, through more than a
thousand years. This is the
yew the most ancient of
trees. Of immense circum-
ference though low in stature, it
forms almost a blot in a panorama,
and by its side all the lesser trees
of the countryside the hollies,
the hawthorns, the rowans
seem insignificant and of little
account.
The general form of individual
trees being so variable, it follows
that one gets very different and
specially interesting effects of
line and colour
when trees of the
same kind are col-
lected into groups
for example, fir
woods, beech
woods, and so forth,
and the groups
viewed as a whole
from above. Thus
a fir wood, with its
rows of dark points
jutting up from the
darker spread of
the branches be-
low, has a more or
Photo: G, Clarke NuttalL
No other tree at all resembles the Lom-
bardy Poplar in contour. The stiff acute-
angle branching of the Poplar has been
carried to an extreme, and the branches
have shut up to the trunk as the ribs of a
closed umbrella shut up to the stick.
less military effect of erectness and alert-
ness, and reminds one of a battalion of
soldiers. A beech wood, on the contrary,
presents an area covered with rounded green
swellings the tops of the crowns closely
touching each other like so many
ant-hills, while the " plan " of an
oak wood is made up of some-
what irregular ovals or oblongs
of a rather paler colour. A very
happy effect of colour and line is
seen in the woods where pine
and birch are intermingled.
Here there are dark green patches,
the tops of the pines, mixed
with the light airy patches that
denote the birches; indeed the
whole wood is often fringed with
the latter, for the birch is a
lover of light and tends to escape
to the edge of the wood.
Often the contour of the land-
scape is a great guide to the trees
that are found in it. Thus,
fringing streams and rivers are
frequent lines of trees with grey-
green airy crowns and angular
branching. These are willows,
and among them of darker hue
may be alders. Then again,
it is on the verdant slopes of the
rich countryside that the beauti-
ful rounded crown of the beech
can be seen at its best. Flat
meadow land specially appeals to
the ash, but it dislikes sandy
soil ; the oak is happy in heavy
and clay lands, while the birch
and the pine love the open sandy
spaces and wind-
swept heaths.
Position, climate
and, above all, de-
gree of exposure are
all great factors in
tree form, for they
bring about consid-
erable modification
of contour. Extreme
instances of this can
be seen in the gnarled
dwarf oaks on Dart-
moor, and the mal-
formed birches of
the sea-coast areas.
2.-WHAT IS PALM?
By G. CLARKE NUTTALL, B.Sc.
With photographs by the Author
O R centuries
past the
country folk of
these islands have
gone to the goat
willow (Salix caprea)
to gather the so-
called "palm" to
decorate their
churches and their
homes on the Sunday
next before Easter
" In Rome upon Palm
Sunday
They bear true palms.
The cardinals bow
reverently
And sing old psalms.
Elsewhere their psalms
are sung
'Mid olive branches.
The holly bough
supplies their place
A mongthe avalanches.
More northern climes
must be content
With the sad willow."
(GOETHE.)
The "palm "-bearing
Goat Willow is the
resplendent male of
the species. In this
photograph is seen
the silver-bud stage
of the male catkins.
There is, however,
nothing sad about
the " palm " of the
willow, those long
twigs set with golden,
fluffy, globe-like cat-
kins that mark the Sunday of acclamation.
They shimmer in the pale spring sunshine,
a scent of honey hangs about them, for
honey lies in little sacs hidden among the
golden spikes, and the bees, who always
love sweetness and scent, murmur con-
tentedly as they gather the golden dust.
Indeed, a palm willow tree is one of the most
beautiful sights of the early spring. As
our Poet Laureate says :
" The woodland willow stands, a lonely bush
Of nebulous gold.
There the spring goddess cowers in faint attire
Of frightened fire."
But it must be a palm willow to carry this
" nebulous gold " and " frightened fire, w
and not all the individual trees of the goat
willow are " palm " willows. Herein has
lain much perplexity for those casual
observers who have not understood the ways
of the willows.
Not far away from the " palm " willows
are other goat willows decked, not with
golden globes, but with narrow grey-green
catkins demure and low in
The grey-green catkins of the soberer, less
obtrusive female Goat Willow. Each cat-
kin consists of a fleshy axis on which the
flowers are set in a close spiral.
70
TREES AND THEIR LIFE STORY
excellent foils in their
likeness and yet un-
likeness to the "palms."
And this is the mystery
of this small woodland
tree the inherent
mystery of sex for the
4 'palm "-bearing goat
willow is the
resplendent male of the
species, while the
soberer, less obtrusive
form is the female tree.
Never in the willows
of any species do the
male and the female
flowers grow on the
same tree as they do
in other kinds of trees
(though the poplars and
the yew follow the
willows in their arrange-
ments) ; always are they
placed on different
trees, hence each is
complementary to the
other and necessary to
the propagation of the
species by seed. So
every goat willow is
not a " palm " bearer,
though " palm " comes always from a goat
willow. Both kinds of catkins, whether
they be the golden globes or the grey-green
cylinders, consist each of a fleshy axis on
instead
upon
The male flowers of the Goat Willow
are just two stamens, like golden pins,
standing on a dark scale which is
edged with silver hairs.
which are set the flowers
in a close spiral. The
male flowers are just
two stamens, like golden
pins, standing on a dark
scale which is edged
with silver hairs ; while
the female flowers on
the other catkins have
a conical seed-case,
of stamens,
a similar silk-
fringed scale. It is the
fringes of these scales
that, pressed together,
make the silver
"pussiness" of the buds
of both kinds of trees
in the very early
spring.
" O come into the hollow,
for Easter-tide is here,
And pale below the hill-
side the budding palms
appear ;
And silver buds a-blow-
ing,
Their yellow blooms are
showing
To woo the bee."
(MARGARET DELAND.)
The bees by day and the moths by night
are the emissaries of the goat willow and
serve as intermediaries between the sexes,
carrying the primrose-coloured fertilizing
A branch of the female Goat Willow with ripening fruit and leaves. The female flowers
have a conical seed-case, instead of stamens, upon a silk-fringed scale.
THE PAGEANT OF NATURE
pollen of the " palm " to the immature
waiting seeds on the female trees and giving
them the magic touch that starts them on
fresh development.
As the weeks go by the crown of beauty
subtly passes from the palm willow to its
neighbour, for the once shining globes lose
their gold, wither and fall away, but the seed-
cases on the grey-green catkins swell into
small blunt cones which, towards the end
of May, split and curl backwards like a pair
of ram's horns. Out of the opening pours
a host of tiny dark seeds all crowned with
a tuft of long silvery hairs. The whole
grey-green catkin becomes a mass of silver
down on which the little seeds float away
with the breeze, passengers to worlds un-
known. Presently they come to rest,
deserted by the wind, or, perchance, held
by some obstacle in their path. There they
anchor by their long hairs, and, if the spot
be to their taste they like best a well-
lighted forest clearing or chalky lowlands,
but are very accommodating they put out
each a tentative root and at once start a
new life that may result in a "palm"-
bearing tree or, by equal chance, maybe
the mother tree of the silvery down and
the seed hostages for the future. It is
now or never with this willow seedling ; it
must germinate at once or die. Nature's
way is not, however, man's way with the
goat willow. When he wants a new tree
he takes cuttings from whichever sex of
the willow he desires, and thus risks no
chances with sex difficulties.
The goat willow, or sallow as it is some-
times called, is only a big bush or, at
best, a small tree some thirty or so feet
high " a tree of a meane bigness," as an
Elizabethan botanist quaintly described it.