28 OBJECT LESSONS IN BOTANY. 
33. It is also necessary to be acquainted with the vari- 
ous forms of the apex of leaves. This diagram (Fig. 56) 
will assist the memory. The apex may be acuminate, end- 
ing in a long, tapering point; or cuspidate, suddenly con- 
tracted to a sharp, slender point; mucronate, tipped with 
a spiny point; acute, simply ending with an angle; obduse, 
blunt. 
34. Or the leaf may end without a point, being truncate, 
as if cut square off; retwse, with a rounded and slightly de- 
pressed end where the point should be; emarginate, having 
a small notch at the end; obcordate, having a deep inden- 
tation at the end. See also, and explain, the diagram of 
the bases of leaves (lig. 57). 
LESSON VII. 
COMPOUND LEAVES. 
35. A compounp leaf consists of several distinct blades 
borne on one petiole. (See Lesson V., first paragraph.) 
These separate blades are called deaflets. You notice that in 
Fig. 39 each of the five leaflets has its own foot-stalk, called 
petiolule, and its own midvein, &e. 
36. The Rose leaf (Fig. 58) is pinnately compound, or sim- 
83. What does the term acuminate imply? What sort of apex is euspi- 
date? mucronate? acute? obtuse? 
34. When may we call the apex iruncate? retuse ? emarginate ’ obcor- 
date? Please name these several forms of the bases of leaves. 
35. Define a compound leaf. What is a leaflet? What do you call the 
foot-stalk of the leaflet ? 
