FIGURES OF LEAVES. 171 
palmately-veined are more or less rounded, or broader than 
long. 
ile the lamina of a leaf is nearly of the same breadth at 
the base as near the apex, narrow, and with the two margins 
parallel (figs. 315, a, and 339), the leaf is called linear, as in 
the Marsh Gentian (Gentiana Pnreumonanthe) and most Grasses ; 
when a linear leaf terminates in a sharp rigid point like a 
needle, as in the common Juniper (fig. 341), and many of our 
Firs and Larches, it is acerose or needle-shaped. When the 
blade of a leaf is very narrow and tapers from the base to a 
very fine point, so that it resembles an awl in shape, as in the 
common Furze (Ulex ewropeus), the leaf is subulate or awl- 
shaped. When the blade of a leaf is broadest at the centre, 
three or more times as long as broad, and tapers perceptibly 
Fic. 348. Fie. 349. 
Fig. 347. 
oak 
Fig. 347. Spathulate leaf. Vig. 348. Oval 
or elliptical leaf of Pear-tree (Pyrus com- 
munis), with serrate margins,—Fig. 349. 
Reniform leaf of Ground Ivy (Nepeta Gle- 
choma), with crenate margins. Fig. 350. 
Trifoliate leaf with obcordate leaflets. 
from the centre to both base and apex, as in the White Willow 
(Salix alba), the leaf is lanceolate (fig. 340) ; when it is longer 
than broad, of about the same breadth at its base and apex, 
and slightly acute at these points, it is oval or elliptical (fig. 
348), as in the Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis) ; or if 
under the same circumstances it is obtuse or rounded at each 
end (fig. 344), it is oblong. By many botanists, however, the 
term oval is applied to a leaf which is only two or three times, 
and oblong, to one which is four or more times, as long as 
broad ; and in both cases either rounded or acute at the two 
extremities. If the lamina of a leaf is more or less rounded at 
the base and broader at this part than at the apex, so that the 
whole is of the shape of an egg cut lengthwise, the leaf is ovate 
or egg-shaped (fig. 345), as in the Lilac; or if of the same figure, 
