CHAPTER XIII 



LEAVES 



1. Of all the organs of a plant, the green leaves 

 are at once the most important, and the most delicate. 

 More than roots or branches or flowers, are the leaves 

 susceptible to the conditions of the plant's life, and 

 so it is in the leaves of plants that we find the 

 greatest variety, and the greatest difference between the 

 several species of a genus, because of their different 

 wants and different aims. 



To distinguish therefore, one species from another, 

 it is important to be able to discern accurately the 

 nature of the leaves, and that others may know from 

 our description of a plant, what particular species we 

 are referring to, we must have some commonly recog- 

 nized terms for the different forms. 



2. A leaf or any organ if flat is described as 

 linear if many times as long as broad, like grass, 



or ZEPHYRANTHES the ' Crocus ' of Indian gardens. 



oblong if two or three times only as long as broad 

 and with more or less parallel sides, as in some leaves 

 Of IXORA PARVIFLORA and IMPATIENS CHINENSIS 

 (fig. 28), PLUMERIA ALBA (fig. 27). 



