328 



FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



figures it would scarce have been possible to deter- 

 mine whether they were " club-mosses "*or not. 



Foliage is hardly so satisfactory for comparison, 

 except in cases where the leaves have a strongly 

 marked character, nevertheless we may suggest two 

 or three of the most striking. The leaves of the 

 planes and the maples have a coincidence of type. 

 The pinnate leaves of some of the 

 OxalidacecB closely resemble, even 

 in their sensitive nature, some of 

 the mimosa family. Or, if we 

 instance individual species, the 

 leaves of the common holly are 

 imitated in some of the evergreen 

 oaks. Some of these latter, espe- 

 cially varieties of the common 

 Quercus ilex, are very like the 

 olive. The trifoliate leaves of 

 the wood-sorrel are very similar 

 to those of the white clover, and 

 both are represented, except that the leaves are four- 

 lobed instead of three, in the cryptogamic genus 

 Marsilea. There is an antarctic species of Caltha, or 

 marsh marigold, in which the leaves strongly remind 

 us of the Venus's fly-trap, and this originated its 

 specific name {Caltha dioncefolia.) The digitate leaves 

 of some of the cultivated species of Aralia might 

 easily be mistaken for those of the castor-oil plant, 



Fig. '/o.— Leaf of 

 Caltha dionafolia. 



