76 



FORMS OF SIMPLE LEAVES. 



Pines and Firs. When the veins diverge, those in the middle 

 being longest, and the leaf tapering at each end (fig. 166), it becomes 

 lanceolate (lancea, a spear). If the middle veins only exceed the others 

 slightly, and the ends are convex, the leaf is either rounded (rotun- 

 datus), as in fig. 164, elliptical (fig. 162), oval (fig. 149), or oblong (fig. 

 150). If the veins at the base are longest, the leaf is ovate or egg- 

 shaped, as in Chick-weed (fig. 152), and if those at the apex are 

 longest, the leaf is obovate, or inversely egg-shaped. Leaves are cuneate 

 (cuneus, a wedge) or wedge-shaped, in Saxifraga (fig. 155); spathulate, 

 or spatula-like, having a broad rounded apex, and tapering down to 

 the stalk in the Daisy (fig. 148); subulate (fig. 167), 

 or narrow and tapering like an awl (subula); acu- 

 minate, or drawn out into a long point, as in Ficus 

 religiosa (fig. 159), mucronate, with a hard stiff point 

 or mucro at the apex (figs. 160 and 143). When the 



102 



153 



parenchyma is deficient at the apex so as to form two rounded lobes, 

 the leaf is obcordate or inversely heart-shaped ; when the deficiency 

 is very slight, the leaf is called emarginate (fig. 143) as having a por- 

 tion taken out of the margin ; when the apex is merely flattened or 



150 



159 



160 



Fig. 148. Spathulate leaf of Daisy. Fig. 149. Oval leaf. Fig. 150. Oblong leaf. 



Fig. 151. Petiolated, reticulated, somewhat oblong leaf, truncate at the base. 



Fig. 152, Ovate pointed leaf. Fig. 153. Cordate pointed leaf. 



Fig. 154. Ovato-lanceolate leaf, i. e. lanceolate in its general contour, but ovate at the base 

 doubly serrated, or having large and small serratures alternately at the margin. 



Fig. 155. Cuneate or wedge-shaped leaf of Saxifraga, ending in an abrupt or truncate manner, 

 and toothed or dentate at the apex. 



Fig. 156. Perfoliate leaf of Bupleurum, formed by lobes uniting at the base on the opposite 

 side of the stem from that to which the leaf is attached. 



Fig. 157. Retuse leaf, i. e. slightly depressed at the apex. Margin slightly waved. 



Fig. 158. Ovate, five-ribbed leaf. 



Fig. 159. Rounded acuminated leaf of Ficus religiosa, with the margin crenate or slightly 

 sinuous. 



Fig. 160. Sub-ovate, retuse, mucronate leaf 



