42 PALMATE LEAF [CH. 



stalk attaching it to the latter, such stalk is termed a 

 petiolule. 



V 



Fig. 13. Palmate, compound leaf of Horse-chestnut, JEsculus 

 Hippocastanum, with five leaflets (D). 



A conspicuous feature at the base of most compound 

 leaves, and of many simple ones also, especially large 

 leaves, is a cushion-like rounded swelling, the so-called 

 pulvinus, particularly prominent on the lower side where 

 the petiole abuts on the shoot-axis. This pulvinus is 



