66 PROPAGATION OF PLANTS. 



pearance of a simple leaf, but all attached to the petiole 

 at one point. Leaves of this kind are called palmate or 

 digitate, because they resemble or are divided like the 

 fingers on the hand. 



In the iQaveSxof such trees as the Butternut, Black 

 Walnut and common Locust (RoUnia, figure 25), the 

 divisions of the leaf are scattered m pairs along both 

 sides of a greatly lengthened mid-rib, and such leaves are 

 said to be compound or pinnate, from the Latin penna, 

 a feather. A further subdivision of the leaflets in this 

 kind of a leaf is seen in the Acacias, and a leaf of A. 

 grandiflora, much reduced in size, is shown in figure 

 $6. Leaves divided in this form are said to be fifjnnnaje, 

 or twice pinnated. Thore are many hundreds of different 

 forms of these bipinnate leaves, as well as of all other 

 forms, and in the Aralias and closely allied plants the 

 leaves are often of immense size. In the Fern-leaved 

 Aralia (A. ftlicifoUa), the upper part of the leaf -stalk ex- 

 pands into a broad, leafy branch, which is curiously 

 divided, as shown in figure 27. 



CHAPTER VI. 

 FLOWERS, FRUITS AND SEEDS. 



IJlowers, like all other organs and appendages of the 

 s&n^ofj3jants, assume almost innumerable forms and 

 sizes. Some are almost microscopic, or remain concealed 

 within an envelope, as in the common Fig, while oJJiers 

 are Jarge and very showy, as in several species of the 

 Magnolia ; consequently, it is difficult to give any con- 

 cise and clear definition of a flower that will apply to all. 

 In the ordinary acceptance of the term, ajgerfect flowr 



