LEAVES 



CHAPTER V 

 LEAVES. I ^M , J 



I. Take a piece of stem of the Japanese Quince which 

 has several leaves attached to it. Examine the leaves and 

 notice that : 



1. They are all borne on the sides of the stem (i.e. that 



they are lateral structures} . 



2. They are broad and thin (i.e. they are also expanded 



structures). 



3. Their color is green. (This is not true for all leaves, e.g. 



examine the leaves of some common red Coleus of 

 the garden or greenhouse, in which another coloring- 

 matter is present and hides the green.) 



4. They are borne at the nodes of the stem. (We may con- 



sequently separate that portion of the plant above the 

 root into a number of similar parts, each of which 

 may be called a phytomer or plant part. Each phy- 

 tomer will consist of an internode, and a node with 

 its leaf or leaves. Sketch a phytomer of the Japanese 

 Quince and label it.) 



5. They grow only to be of a certain size and then stop / 



(being flnlike stems or branches in this respect). 



6. Notice that each leaf has a small bud in its axil, i.e. in 



the angle between its upper surface and the stem. 



7. We may define a leaf as being an expanded, lateral struc- 



ture of limited growth, borne on the stem and usually 



