D E 



two. Now the figure, in the Phil. Botanicij^ 

 which is intended to illuftrate this explanation 

 is like nothing in nature, and of a form quite 

 different from thofe leaves to which this term 

 is applied in the Syjiema Natura, &c. as for iri- 

 ftance, In the Populus nigra, Which has four 

 angles, and the two later^tl ones are nearer the 

 bafe than the apex. In order to folve thefe 

 difficulties, let us firft fecoUeft that the delta 

 was the figure of four, of the Greeks, add that 

 4- angular would expreB a figtfe with four an- 

 gles, though the figure 4 contains but three. 

 But if tliis does not fatisfy Us, let us recolledt 

 that AeXt®-, pugillares, were a kind of writing-ta^ 

 Llets, which, though triangular when fhut, muft 

 neceflarily, when open, be quadrangular. 

 pr Hill, in his explanation of this term, by 

 way of example, InRances the Sea Purflane, 

 which happens not to have a deltoide leaf, but 

 bhovatmi. Linnseus applies the term Deltoides 

 to the leaves of the following plants, viz. Ps" 

 pultis nigra, Atriplex laciniata, ^triplex hajiata, 

 Jlripkx patida, Chenopodiiifn ferotinum. 



DEMERSUM Folium \_de?nergo, to dive] in 

 aquatic plants, funk below the furface of the 

 water. The fame as Submerfum. 



DENDROID I S>rfK/2/j {l ^i^h^u arhujlum, a 



