276 



HUTCHINSON'S POPULAR BOTANY 



for specimens of leaves with acuminate apices. 

 Two of our British Willows the Osier and White 

 Willow (Salix viminalis and S. alba] offer ex- 

 cellent examples, particularly the former: and 

 although we have passed neither of these on the 

 way, the White Willow is so common throughout 

 the country that there need be no difficulty in 

 obtaining specimens. 



So ends our excursion. All the principal leaf- 

 forms have now been touched upon, and we have 

 really travelled over most of the ground covered 

 by the text-books. We trust that what the present 

 plan has lost in method it has gained in interest. 

 Fio. 33. BEGONIA. To those who would pursue the subject farther (and 



An example of an oblique leaf. let it not be 



forgotten that 



a sound knowledge of plants presup- 

 poses a thorough acquaintance with the 

 forms of leaves i, we would recommend 

 the practice of keeping a scrap-book, 

 in which the leaves collected may 

 be mounted 

 and arranged. 

 Let one page 

 be devoted to 

 net-veined 

 leaves : 

 another to 

 parallel- 



veined ; a third and a fourth to compound and single 

 leaves respectively ; a fifth to the different kinds 

 of margin; a sixth to the different kinds of apex: 

 and so on, till every variety of shape is represented 

 and classified. In this way one is brought face to 

 face with many curious and instructive facts, of 

 which even the fullest treatises say nothing, and 

 the foundation of a trustworthy knowledge of 

 botany is laid that will be found increasingly valu- 

 able the further such investigations are pushed. 

 Thus, too, will one's acquaintance with Nature 

 herself become more and more extended, and the 

 facts which we have been accumulating by steady 

 patience and reverent study will yield in the 

 near future an abundant harvest of joy. 



FIG. 337. LEAF OF SACKED LOTUS. 



The leaf-stalk bein<? attached to thecentre of the under- 

 side, the leaf is said to be peltate. 



FIG. 338. DANDELION. 

 A runcinate leaf. 



