80 INTRODUCTION TO BOTANY 
kinds which usually grow in very damp soil or in swamps, 
such as the jack-in-the-pulpit, skunk cabbage, white hellebore, 
papaw, and some magnolias, are frequently large-leaved plants. 
Many plants which grow in extremely dry soils, or in regions 
where the summer rainfall is scanty or altogether lacking, are 
characterized by small leaves, often awl-shaped or thread-like. 
Few familiar examples of such plants with highly reduced leaf 
surface are to be found among the wild 
plants of the northern United States. 
Fie. 64. The crowberry 
This plant has minute leaves Fie. 65. A fleshy-leaved plant (Mesem- 
See areas Tels bryanthemum) with much water stored in 
under. It thrives in dry, ‘ 
exposed situations. About the stiff, clustered leaves 
.one half natural size After De Candolle 
The crowberry (fig. 64) is one good instance of the kind, 
and a few weeds of the Pink family, some St.-John’s-worts, and 
some little spurges are other examples. The heather (Erica), 
often cultivated in greenhouses, is an excellent instance of 
minute, awl-shaped leaves. 
Thick, fleshy leaves (fig. 65) are common in plants of desert 
or semi-desert regions. Some of these leaves are almost eylin- 
drical; others are tongue-shaped ; others, like those of the cen- 
tury plant, are thick and broad at the base and taper to a spiny 
tip. All fleshy, or sweculent, leaves hold much stored water for 
use in seasons of drought. 
