42 



FIRST LESSONS WITH PLANTS 



ment and other features of the veins or ribs. Let the pupil collect 

 abundantly of leaves (and indiscriminately, if he choose), and match 

 the venation in them. Possibly he may find his pencil useful in 

 recording and interpreting the differences. The drawings should be 

 of use in the accustomed freehand exercises of the school; that is, 

 the work with the pencil should be undertaken more in the interest 

 of instruction in drawing than in the interest of nature-study. 



IX. THE FORMS OF LEAVES 



50. The forms of leaves 

 (and of leaflets) interest us 

 in two directions, in respect 

 to the relation which they 

 bear to the welfare and 

 history of the plant (or to 

 adaptation to particular pur- 

 poses of the plant), and 

 in respect to their use in 

 enabling us to recognize and 

 describe plants. The former 

 subject cannot be considered here. 

 We shall, therefore, define the forms 

 for purposes of description ; but in 

 doing this we must remember that 

 there is every grade of intermediate 

 form. Certain geometrical figures or 

 arbitrary ideals are taken as the 

 standards of comparison, and it must 



FIG. 36. 



Lanceolate leaves of 

 red pepper. 



