Observations upon some Noteworthy Leaf Variations. 283 



westerly side — or more strictly north by west — of the clump, 

 and its very remarkable leaf variation was what first of all 

 directed my attention to the phenomenon. This bush, which 

 had been somewhat severely pruned, was about 1.5 m. in 

 general height. The branches were thick- set, rather short 

 and wiry, so that the whole formed a somewhat compact 

 head quite unlike the loose, plagiotropic branches so charac- 

 teristic of the shrub. The leaves, instead of lying in one 

 plane which is also common to the shoot, especially when the 

 latter is dorsiventral in position, as is typical of the normal 

 shrub, occupied the most diverse positions, and they also 

 were curled upward from the sides. In figure 4, the series of 

 leaves was taken from a typical branch of this shrub, the 

 sequence of numbers from 1-12 corresponding to acropetal 

 succession for the branch and branchlets, each group of three 

 being taken from a separate branchlet. The more genera 

 character of the foliage is pretty accurately represented by 7. 

 The particular branch from which these examples were taken, 

 was somewhat plagiotropic, and it is a fact of some interest 

 supported by other data, that the smallest leaves were always 

 at the base of the series, the larger being toward the end of 

 the series and so toward the ends of the branches. An in- 

 spection of the figures will show that the leaves are all oblong; 

 the base is rounded, never cordate, while it even becomes 

 acute or even somewhat wedge-shaped in consequence of the 

 decurrent blade. (1, 2, 5, 7, 8). The apex varies widely, 

 being either acute and sometimes mucronate (1, 4, 6, 10, 11) 

 as in ordinary foliage, or obtuse and more or less strongly 

 rounded (2, 7, 8, 9.) Together with these alterations, the 

 leaf blade is distinctly relatively thicker and more coriaceous 

 In size, these leaves range from 1.14 sq. cm. to 9.50 sq. cm., 

 the average area being about 5.09 sq. cm. 



From the upper extremity of one of the pruned branches 

 of this shrub, there developed a shoot of great vigor, in com- 

 mon with other similar shoots from other portions of the 

 shrub. During the season it reached a length of 1.16 m. 

 with a diameter of 1 cm. at the base. This shoot (Fig. \U) was 

 strictly orthotropic, while its leaves were somewhat plagiotropic, 



