Lily-kin and Rose-kin 123 



complex plan. The leaves of some lilies are 

 borne in circles, like spokes of a wheel, and those 

 of some of the lilies' cousins are so ranged along 

 the stem that a line drawn through the point of 

 insertion of each will go winding upward in a 

 beautifully symmetrical spiral. 



One of the most marked characteristics of Mono- 

 colyletons is the veining of the leaves. 



By this alone we can generally tell almost at a 

 glance whether a plant is to be classed with the 

 lily or with the rose. 



The foliage of the lily-kin generally has what 

 botanists call parallel veins (Fig. 24). 



A mathematician would take exception to the 

 term, for parallel lines, as we all know, never 

 meet, while parallel leaf-veins come together at 

 the leaf's tip. 



But the student of plant-life who called the 

 veins of lily-leaves and grass-blades "parallel," 

 was probably comparing them to the veins of di- 

 cotyledenous foliage, which twist and branch into a 

 mesh-work as bewildering as it is beautiful (Fig. 25). 



The leaves of lilies and their kin are almost 

 always simple in outline, arrow-shaped, heart- 

 shaped, oval, or long and narrow, like blades of 

 grass. 



