42 8 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [December 



MuLTiLOBED LEAVES {Plate XVIIL) — It is among the 3- 

 5-lobed leaves, however, that the greatest variation prevails. In 

 the trilobcd forms the lobes vary from broadly obtuse to nar- 

 rowly acute (rarely retuse), from mere lateral prominences to 

 broad lobes extending nearly to the top of the leaf. They 



may never extend above the 

 basal half of the leaf, although 

 directed upward, or they may 

 extend at right angles, or even 

 occasionally be recurved. 

 They may be orbicular or 

 long narrow fingers enclosing 

 a deep rounded sinus which 

 extends nearly to the midrib. 

 In a leaf 165"^"^ long and 

 I27™"'wide the sinus extended 

 to within 3.50™"^ of the mid- 

 rib. Out of 102 leaves con- 

 sidered of sufficient interest 



Fig. I. — Abnormal leaf of Sassafras: 



reduced two-thirds. ^o sketch, 45 werc approxi- 



mately bilateral, and 57, or 

 about 56 per cent., were more or less greatly inequilateral. While 

 this is not a natural proportion, as only divergent forms were pre- 

 served, it shows the wide range of variation from a leaf with one 

 lobe acute and extending at right angles a distance of but 7"""" 

 from the wide shallow sinus and three-elevenths from- the base, 

 the other oblong and ascending, extending nine-elevenths of the 

 distance to the tip, and enclosing a deep, narrow sinus ; to leaves 

 in which one half is nearly the exact counterpart of the other. 

 The base varies from narrowly ascending in the younger leaves 

 to nearly truncate ; all of the leaves seen, however, are more or 



less decurrent. 



fig 



special mention as having an almost palmate venation, there being 

 four and the indication of a fifth possible primary. The right 

 hand sinus runs to a narrowly acute point, and entirely lacks the 

 marginal venation so characteristic of Sassafras. 



The bases of the primaries may be from 5-7°*°^ apart or they 



