LESSON 8.] 



THEIR PARTICULAR FORMS. 



59 



Auriculate, or eared, having a pair of small and blunt projections, 

 or ears, at the base, as in one species of Magnolia (Fig. 96). 



Sagittate, or arrow-shaped, where such ears are pointed and turned 

 downwards, while the 

 main body of the blade 

 tapers upwards to a 

 point, as in the com- 

 mon Sagittaria or Ar- 

 row-head, and in the 

 Arrow-leaved Polygo- 

 num (Fig. 95). 



Hastate, or halberd- 

 shaped, when such 

 lobes at the base point outwards, giving the leaf the shape of the 

 halberd of the olden time, as in another Polygonum (Fig. 97). 



Peltate, or shield-shaped, (Fig. 102,) is the name applied to a 

 curious modification of the leaf, commonly of a rounded form, where 

 the footstalk is attached to the lower surface, instead of the base, and 



therefore is naturally likened to a shield borne by the outstretched 

 arm. The common Watershield, the Nelumbium, and the White 

 Water-lily, and also the Mandrake, exhibit this sort of leaf. On 

 comparing the shield-shaped leaf of the common Marsh Pennywort 

 (Fig. 102) with that of another common species (Fig. 101), we see 

 at once what this peculiarity means. A shield-shaped leaf is like a 



FIG. 95. Sagittate, 96. auriculate, 97. halberd-shaped, leaves. 

 FIG. 98 - 102. Various forms of radiate-veined leaves. 



