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 sagittifolia). 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. 329). 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 sivord-shaped leaves of the 



Yellow Flag (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 til ifornij 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 field has little praise to bestow upon 

 them be sure of that! 



FIG. 326. CINQUEFOIL (Potentilla reptans), 

 \Vith Cjiiinate or five-parted leaves, and an epicalyx to the 



FIG. 327. GROUND IVY 



(Nepeta glechoma), 

 Showing reniform leaves in pairs, 



There are velvet Campions, whits and red, 

 And Poppies, like morning glories spread, 

 That flash and glance with their scarlet sheen 

 The stalks of the bearded grain between 



