62 J3otani5 



On pines the needle-formed leaves grow in bundles 

 or clusters, and a scale-covering wraps all the buds 

 of such a cluster together ; bundles of this fashion 

 are flattened branches. 



Having noted the placing of the buds, let us see 

 how the leaves are packed away in them before 

 opening. The leaf of a cherry or oak is folded flat 

 together by the mid-rib, or woody vein in the 

 centre. A currant leaf is folded like a tiny fan furled 

 up ; a plum leaf is rolled up inward, first one side 

 being rolled, and the other rolled over it, toward the 

 mid-rib. Some leaves — as those of the azalea — are 

 rolled over backward to the mid-rib on each side, 

 making two little tubes. Exactly the opposite is the 

 manner of rolling of the violet leaves, where the 

 tubes lie on the upper side. 



When the leaf buds are nearly ready to open, you 

 can study the method of packing if you have a micro- 

 scope. Cut a bud across the thickest part, and ex- 

 amine the cut sections. 



Let us consider the great number of leaves that 

 each plant possesses— the countless blades of grass, 

 the multitudes of pine-needles, the heavy shade of 

 forest trees, produced by small leaf overlapping and 

 overhanging leaf in a vast, almost impenetrable 

 dome of verdure. We wonder if there can be more 

 drops in the ocean, or more grains of sand on the 



