268 



HUTCHINSON'S POPULAR BOTANY 



FIG. 325. RENIFORM LEAF 



OF A SPECIES OF ARISTOLO- 



CHIA. 



pluck a leaf of that handsome water-plant with 

 the white three-petalled flowers. It is the Common 

 Arrowhead (Sagittaria sag itti folia). Sagitta is the 

 Latin word for " arrow," and you have only to 

 glance at the leaf in order to appreciate the fit- 

 ness of its name (fig. 329j. All arrow-shaped 

 leaves are termed sagittate : and those who have 

 been much in the country parts of Norfolk and 

 Suffolk will have noticed this attractive form in 

 the leaves of the Tower Mustard (Turritis glabra^. 

 which grows rather plentifully on the drier banks. 

 The pink-flowered Sheep's-sorrel (Rumex acetosa\ 

 which may be met with on dry heaths and downs, 

 has somewhat similar leaves, though the two 

 lobes at the base of the leaf turn 

 outwards, whence they are classed 

 with halbert-shaped or hastate 

 leaves. Those aquatic plants 

 with white flowers and three-lobed 

 floating leaves, growing beyond 

 the long su-ord-shaped leaves of the 

 Yellow Flag i Iris pseudacorus), are 

 Water-crowfoots < Ranunculus aqua- 

 tilis). On pulling one of them up, 

 it will be found that its submerged 

 leaves are quite different from the 

 floating leaves, being divided into 

 hair-like segments. Such leaves are 

 called filiform : while plants which 

 produce 



two or more different kinds of leaf on the same 

 stem are said to be heterophyllous. We shall have 

 more to say about submerged and floating leaves 

 on a future occasion. 



Beauty is everywhere. Nature's brightest 

 colours meet the eye at every step, for June is em- 

 phatically the month of flowers. How they glint 

 and glow among the Barley ! though the farmer 

 who owns the lield has little praise to bestow upon 

 them be sure of that! 



FIG. 326. CrNQTJEFOiL (Potentilla reptans), 



With quinate or five-parted leaves, and an epicalyx to the 

 flowers. 



FIG. 327. GROUND IVY 



(Nepeta glechoma), 

 Showing reniform leaves in pairs. 



There are velvet Campions, whita and red, 

 And Poppies, like morning glories spread, 

 That flash and glance with their scarlet sheen 

 The stalks of the bearded grain between 



