12 



SHAPES OF LEAVES. 



The blade is of every imaginable shape, from the long, narrow 

 ribbon of the grass up to the broad angular shield of the rhubarb. 

 No figure can be drawn, I'ound, oval, elliptical, square, three-sided, six- 

 sided, seven-sided, or anything else, that has not already been used by 

 inventive nature for the outline of a leaf. Manji pages might be filled 

 with descrijjtions of them, but it is unnecessary for general purposes 

 that we should specify more than the principal types. The illus- 

 trative drawings are not intended to indicate sizes, not even relative 

 sizes, but simply the shapes or outlines. Neither are they in any 

 case theoretical, or artistically " touched up," but sketched directly 

 from nature in all her waywardness. The following are the chief: — 



" Needle-shaped," as in the fir-tree. 



" Linear," very narrow, with the edges either parallel or tapering 



to the point, like a blade of grass. (Fig. 12.) 

 " Lanceolate," long and narrow, tapering towards each end. 



(Fig. 13.) 

 " Oval," twice as long as broad, and narrowing to each end. 



Fig. 11 



Fig. 12. Fig. 13. 



Egg-shaped" or "ovate," in length and breadth like the former, 

 but narrowing to only one end, like the section of an egg. 

 When the base is the naiTOwcr cud, it is called " inversely 

 egg-shaped," or "obovate." (Fig. 17.) 

 Round," when the length and breadth are about equal. 

 Kidney-shaped." (Fig. 11.) 

 'Heart-shaped." (Fig. 14.) 

 Triangular." (Fig. 16.) 

 ' Hastate," arrow or spear head-shaped. (Fig. 15.) 



