THOSE LITTLE WORKSHOPS 85 



A few years ago, when I paid a visit to the Kew 

 Gardens, I came across remarkable leaf-specimens. 



Near the main entrance was a bed of plants, stand- 

 ing about eight or ten feet high, with very big sub- 

 stantial leaves, handsomely veined and ribbed, many 

 of them measuring a good two feet across and the same 

 in length. This was the " Kiri " plant. But others 

 go far in size beyond those of the Kiri. 



In one of the houses was a lovely fern from the 

 tropics, the " Dicksonia." It has a woolly protective 

 covering for its stem, and graceful fronds or leaves, 

 fully ten feet long. 



And yet another great tropic plant — the " Cohune 

 Palm " — ^boasted a leaf actually thirty feet in length. It 

 was deeply cut down to the mid-rib, but still the whole 

 was one leaf. 



Such a specimen can hardly be spoken of as a small 

 workshop. It is more like a large manufactory. 



" The leaves of the winter wither and sink in the forest mould. 

 To colour the flowers of April with purple and white and 

 gold." 1 



IV — The Make of a Leaf — 



Now as to the make of a leaf : how it is built up or 

 put together. 



It is said to be in three parts : the Blade^ the Foot- 

 stalk, and the two Stipules, which look like small leaflets, 

 just where the footstalk begins. But often no stipules 

 are found; and often, too, is seen no footstalk. The 

 really needful part, without which we should have no 

 ^ Alfred Noyes. 



