134 COMPOUND LEAVES. 



as subrotuudinn, roundish, mhsessilt\ not quite desti- 

 tute of a footstalk, to which is equivalent suhpctiolatia?!, 

 ob.scurely stalked. By the judicious use of such means, 

 all necessary precision is attained. It is to be wished 

 that authors wei'e always uniform and consistent, at 

 least with themselves, in the application of terms; but as 

 Linna'us, the father of accurate botanical phraseology, 

 very frequently misapplies his own terms, it is perhaps 

 scarcely to be avoided. I have observed botanists most 

 critical in theory, to be altogether deficient in that cha- 

 racteristic phraseology, that power of defining, which 

 bears the stamp of true genius, and which renders the 

 works of Linnaeus so luminous in despite of incidental 

 errors. Perhaps no mind, though ever so intent on 

 the subject, can retain all the possible terms of descrip- 

 tion and their various combinations, for ready use at 

 any given moment. There are few natural objects to 

 which a variety of terms are not equally applicable in 

 description, so that no two writers would exactly agree 

 in their use. Neither is Nature herself so constant as 

 not perpetually to elude our most accurate research. 

 Happy is that naturalist who can seize at a glance 

 what is most characteristic and permanent, and define 

 all that is essential, without trusting to fallacious, 

 though ever so specious, distinctions ! 



9. Folia composila, conipound leaves, consist of two 

 or any greater number oifoUolay leaflets, connected 

 by a common footstalk. 

 Folium articulatiun^f, 104, a jointed leaf, is when 



