OEGAKS OF NUTEITION. 



159 



acerose or needle-shaped. "When the blade of a leaf is very nar- 

 row and tapers from the base to a very fine point, so that it 

 resembles an awl in shape, as in the common Furze ( Ulex euro- 

 pcBus), the leaf is subulate or awl-shaped. When the blade of 

 a leaf is broader at the centre than at its two extremities, and 

 tapers towards both base and apex, as in the AVhite "Willow 

 {Salix alba), the leaf is lanceolate {fig. 314) ; when it is longer 

 than broad, of the same breadth at its base and apex and 

 slightly acute at these points, it is oval or elliptical {fig. 322), 

 as in the Lily of the Valley {Cofivallaria majalis); or if 

 under the same circumstances it is obtuse or rouuded at each 

 end {fig. 318), it is oblong; the latter term is better applied 

 only to leaves which are longer than those of an elliptical 

 form, and either acute or rounded at the two extremities ; it was 

 used in this sense by Sir J. E. Smith ; the above definitions 

 of elliptical and oblong are those of Lindley. 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. 319), as 

 in the Periwinkle ( Vinca major) ; or if of the same figure, but 

 with the apex broader than the base {fig. 320), it is obovate or 

 inversely egg-shaped. "When the lamina is broad at the apex, 

 and abrupt-pointed, and tapers towards the base {fig. 316), as 

 in some Saxifrages, the leaf is cuneate, cuneiform, or wedge- 



Fig. 322. 



Fig. 323. 



Fig. 321 



Fig. 

 324. 



Fig. 321. Spalhulate leaf. Fig. 322. Oval leaf of Pear-tree 



(Pyrus co?n?H«?t?s), with a serrated margin. Fig. 323. Reni- 



form leaf of Ground Ivy iKepetaGlechoiHo), v/ith a crenate 

 margin. Fig. 324. Trifoliate leaf with obcordate leaflets. 



or if the apex is broad and rounded, and tapers down to 

 {fi^. 321), it is spathulate, as in the Daisy. When the 



