Catkins

Some lovely catkins swinging in the sunshine.

Catkins are in interesting way for trees to spread pollen about without growing big showy flowers. Catkins consist of a string of flowers, usually without any petals at all. Most catkins consist only of male flowers but some trees form female catkins too. They mostly rely on the wind to spread the pollen.

My friends and I used to keep pussy willow catkins in matchboxes as pets.