LEAF BUDS

On the Chestnut buds you stick;
Buds of Beech are sharp aprick;
Buds of Ash are always put
In tidy pairs as black as soot.
In a jumble Oak buds grow
A most untidy twig they show,
Reddish-brown are buds of Plane;
On the Elm twigs look again,
See the leaf buds small and brown
Growing up the twigs and down,
Flower buds you see as well,
Brown and bead-like as they swell,
Bud of Sycamore shows green,
A big one at the top is seen,
But small down the twig they grow;
Lime buds ruby red will glow;
Poplar buds in single line
Down the twig in crimson shine,
Thus may all the trees be known
In winter by their buds alone.