278 AUTUMNAL LEAVES. 



influence to which the cow kept in it was beloved 

 to be subject from a e witch ' who had ' over- 

 looked 5 it. The exclamation in Macbeth * Aroint 

 thee, witch ! ' has been supposed by some persons 

 to be a corruption of ( A Roan Tree witch ! ' and 

 the following verse from an old song will give 

 probability to this supposition : 



* Their spells were vain : the boys return'd 

 To the Queen in sorrowful mood, 

 Crying that "witches have no power 

 Where there is Roan Tree wood." ' 



The palmate leaf of the Guelder Rose bears 

 some resemblance to that of the Western Plane. 

 In its normal form, however, it is ordinarily three - 

 lobed, each lobe having a waved, indented margin. 

 From the waved mid-stem of the leaf, continuing 

 the somewhat short leaf-stalk, wavy branch veins 

 run to the apices of the two side lobes. These 

 start, like the mid- vein, from the apex of the leaf- 

 stalk ; but higher on the mid-stem, and from the 

 lower side of the two principal branch veins, other 

 branch veins proceed in alternation to the margin, 

 each running to the apex of one of the smaller 



