168 MODIFICATIONS OF INCISED LEAVES. 
their base hy a more or less broad expansion of parenchyma, so 
that the whole has a resemblance to the palm of the hand with 
spreading fingers, the leaf is termed palmate, as in some species 
of Passion-flower (fig. 331); or when there are more than five 
lobes, the leaf is described as palmatifid or palmately-cleft, as 
in the Castor-oil Plant (jig. 332). Some writers, however, use 
Fie. 333. 
Fig. 333. Dissected leaf of the Water Crowfoot (Ranunculus aquatilis), 
the terms palmate and palmatifid indifferently to describe 
either of the above modifications of incised leaves, but the 
sense in which they are defined above is more precise, and 
should alone be used. When the lobes are less spreading, 
narrower, and somewhat deeper than in a true palmate leaf, 
the leaf is digitate ; or when there are more than five lobes of 
a a similar character, asin the Bitter 
Fre. 334. Cassava, it is sometimes termed 
digitipartite, or even digitate 
(though improperly so), by some 
authors. When the lamina is 
divided nearly to its base into 
numerous narrow thread-like divi- 
sions, as in the submersed leaves 
of the Water Crowfoot (fig. 335), 
the leaf is said to be dissected. 
When the lateral lobes, partitions, 
Fig. 334, Pedatipartite leaf, or segments, of what would be 
otherwise a palmate leaf are them- 
selves divided into two or more divisions (fig. 334), as in the 
Stinking Hellebore and Sawromatum quttatum, so that the 
whole bears some resemblance to a bird’s foot, the leaf is 
termed pedatifid, pedatipartite, or pedatisected, according to the 
depth of the divisions. The term pedate is by some botanists 
applied generally to these modifications of the palmate leaf, but 
