Green Leaves at Work 115 



And a whole category of plants bear leaves 

 which are traps for the luring and snaring of in- 

 sects. 



So the functions of leaves vary widely, and their 

 forms vary still more. "The leaves of the herb- 

 age at our feet," says Ruskin, "take all kinds 

 of strange shapes, as if to invite us to examine 

 them. Star-shaped, heart-shaped, spear-shaped, ar- 

 row-shaped, fretted, fringed, cleft, furrowed, ser- 

 rated, in whorles, in tufts, in wreaths, in spires, 

 endlessly expressive, deceptive, fantastic, never the 

 same, from footstalks to blossom, they seem per- 

 petually to tempt our watchfulness, and take de- 

 light in outstripping our wonder." 



