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. [Illustration: PLATE XV THE WHITE WILLOW 1. White Willow Tree 2. Leaf Spray 3. Pussy Buds 4. Stamen Catkin 5. Seed Catkin] 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.