52 Plants and their Ways in South Africa 



'^ Roll up the parallelogram to form a petiole. These petioles 

 will slip into the grooves of the corrugated paper, and when 

 you let go they expand so as to fit fairly tight. 



" Now put leaf i near the middle, pointing to one of the 

 fifths ; go round the spiral, and put the next leaf facing the 

 second fifth from the first; and so on, till you have some 



Fig. 63. — Scabiosa. The cut upper leaves Fig. 64. — Branch of Rhus, showing the simple 

 allow the light to penetrate below. leaf at the base. 



twenty leaves in position. The phyllotaxy then becomes 

 evident. 



" If you have not twisted the spiral too tight, the central 

 portion will be found to be moveable. Push it down to 

 show a rosette of radical leaves; push it up to show a 

 stem. 



" The stem is very conical, even comical, but the rosette is 

 almost an improvement on Nature. 



" By taking coloured leaves for sepals and petals, wax-matches 



