OEGAXS OF NUTRITION. 



155 





gular, and the other lobes which are also more or less of the 

 same shape have their points directed downwards towards the 

 base, as in Dandelion {fig. 303), the leaf is said to be runcinate ; 

 or when a lyrate leaf has but one deep recess on each side, so that 

 it resembles a violin in shape, it is termed 2)ci7iduriformoTfidcUe- 

 shaped, as in the Fiddle Dock {fig. 30i). 



The above terms are those which define incised feather- veined 

 leaves ; but when they are palmately -veined and incised in various 

 ways, other terms are used according to the degree of division. 

 In describing such leaves, the terms bifid, trifid, quinqnefid, S^'c, 

 bipartite, tripartite, cfr., bisected, trisected, ^'C, are employed 

 according to the number of their fissures, partitions or seg- 

 ments, as already noticed; or the terms palmatifid, palmatipar- 

 tite, piahnatisectcd, derived from the direction of the veins, «fec., 

 are used. Special names are also applied to certain modifications 

 of these palmately-veined leaves as with those of the feather- 

 veined leaves. Thus, when the blade of such a leaf has five spread- 

 ing lobes united at their base by 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 Passionflower {fig. 305,) and in the Palmated 

 Ehubarb ; or when there are more than five lobes, the leaf is 

 described as ixdraatifid or palmately-cleft, as in the Castor-oil 

 plant {fig. 306.) Some writers, however, use the terms palmate 

 and palmatifid indifferently to describe either of the above modifi- 

 cations of leaves, but the sense in which they are defined above, is 



Fig. 305. 



Fig. 306. 



Fig. 305. Palmate leaf of a species of 



Passionflower (Prt^sJ^ora). Fig. 



306. Palmatifid leaf of tbe Castor- 

 Oil plant iEicinus comvmnis). 



far more precise, and should alone be used. "WTien 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 similar character, as in the Bitter Cassava, it is some- 



