VOL. LV.— No. 3,0&4 



SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1912. 



THE GARDENERS 



MAGAZINE 



NOTE OF THE WEEK. 



The Life of a. Leaf. 



Although in the microscopic domain ox 

 organic life the distinction between the 

 animal and vegetable kingdoms is by no 



indefinitely long period in ])erfecting its 

 life cj'cle by the ])r()duction of flowers and 

 seed. As an example^ we may take such 



leaflt\ss plants, since the cluster of tliorns 

 are pre<*e<le<l by small leaves, w^hich are 

 shed as soon as formed, and hence have a 



plants as the aloes, agaves, and similar very short life indeed. The more remark- 

 fleshy-leaved ])lants, including the so-called able case of leaf longevity is seen, per- 

 century plant, Avhich only flowers after a haps, in that curious plant, the unique 



Welwitschia, in Avliich the two cotvledons 



very long preparative interval, and then 



means quite definite in many cases, it becomcvS perishes. With such plants the leaves or primary leaves producinl from the seed 

 t'lear enough in the more highly-developed last throughout tlieir existence^ and are persist for many years, and grow very large 

 plants by the production of foliage, nothing 

 akin to w^hich is produced by anim.als. In 



engaged the whole time in enlarging theni- 



and woody, lying flatly on tlie ground, and 

 selves, and fattening up, as it were, the constituting the only foliage the plant, 



the higher realm of plant life, as distinct axis of growth or heart of the plants, to really a tree, produces, 

 from the fungi and other parasitic 



In 



plants, which are leafless, and can 

 consequently only deriv e their nou- 

 rishment secondarily from vegetable 

 matter already formed hy the leaf- 

 bearing plants, the leaf rather than 

 the plant itself is really the indi- 

 vidual, of wdiich the 



plant 



-u 



we see 



colony. Thns from the smalles 

 tuft of grass to the mighty sequoia, 

 of a girth and height Mhicli im- 

 plies many centuries of growth, in 

 both and all forms between, w^e see 

 growths which are entirely the out- 

 come of leaf activity of shorter or 

 longer duration, and of few or many 



successive generations of contribu- 

 tory leaves, precisely as 



towns and empires developed by 

 the activity of successive genera- 

 tions of human beings. In both 

 cases the individual^ during its 

 limited existence, whether as leaf 

 or man, adds, or should add, some- 

 thing to the concrete acciunulation 

 in which, and by virtue of which, 

 it is created. The life of a leaf in 

 the vast majority of cases, is, com- 

 pared wdth that of the associated 

 plant community, a very short one, 

 usually confined to a single grow- 

 "ig season, during which period it 

 performs its oflfiee of absorbing 

 nutrition from the air and from 

 the soil, and working this up by 

 the aid of sunlight into all 

 varied materials which are needed for the 



live through two 



evei'green 



trees and shrubs, the longer life of 

 the leaf is probably, as regards its 

 active functions, more apparent 

 than real, since^ as a rule, they are 

 shed the following season, and can, 

 during the dormant period, do but 

 little or nothing in the structural 

 line. In annual plants the life of 

 the leaves is but brief, and, as the 

 next season's growi:h is confined en- 

 tirely to the seed, they leave no suc- 

 cessors behind them in the shape of 

 buds. AVith biennials, the leaves 



seasons, their 

 functions in the first one being to 

 store up nutrition, and in the 

 second to use this for the manufac- 

 ture of the flowers and seed, on 

 similar, but brief ajid more regular 

 lines than the agaves, ete., which 

 Ave have mentioned above. The life 

 of a leaf, in short, depends entirely 

 upon the period required by the 

 plants concerned for the fulfilment 

 of Nature's command to increase 

 and multiply ; this done, the next 

 step is to perish in order to make 

 room for the next generation, and 

 to return, as far as possible, its 



constituents to the general store. 



MR. T. PATl-MAN. 



Mr. T. Pateman, whose por- 

 trait is giA^en herewith^ has fully 

 justified the high position he occu- 



the gardeners wlio 



tin 



pies 



among 

 their 



form a mass of nutrition, upon wliich, when 



pursue 

 countv of Hertfordshire 



gardeners 

 avocations 



the time comes, a huge mass of flower and become best known as 

 seed is dcA'eloped with wonderful rapidity and exhibitor of fruit. 



in the 

 for while he has 



cultivator 

 has been 



a 



he 



community — i.e., the plant, shrub, or 

 tree, w^ith wdiich it is associate<l. These 



niaterials are then distributed tln oughout at the expense of the accumulated nourish- not less successful in all other branches 



the social system, so to speak, to form the ment. In the cacti and euphoi^bias we of his w^ork. It is of interest to 



^^'ood, bark, flowers, and finally the fruits, liave examples of the opposite character, recall the fact that Mr. Pateman com- 



plus the inci2:)ient buds, which reall}^ repre- In the case of the cacti, in order to adapt menced his horticultural career in the gar- 



^^nt the leaf's offspring, or successors, in them to extremely dry conditions, the leaf dens of The Node, Welwyn, the residence of 



proper is entirely suppressed, and its func- C. A. Cain, Esq., of which he has now 



tions transferred to the stems, no leaves charge, and remained there five years. It is 



consequently aj)pearing, even the so-called interesting also that during this period he 



phyllocacti or h^if cacti oAving their name served under three Scotch and two English 



to the somewhat leaf-like appearance due gardeners, so that his training must haAC 



to Hat ttMied stems, upon the etlges of Avhich, heen somewduit A'aried. Sul)sequently , he 



as Avitli the rest of the cactus tribe, tlie occupied positions in several 



leaf-sites are indicated by small clusters 

 tliorns. In snnu^ of the euphorbias Ave see 



probaljly a prior stage of eA'olution of such 



vegetatiA'e 



the season next folloiving. These func 

 tions fulfilled, the leaf, as a rule, perishes 

 l^^lls to the ground, and normally contri 

 ^utes by its decay to futiu-e 

 gi'owth. As usual, howev(M\ in X:)ture 

 there are many exceptions to ilie general 

 ^ule, and in some cases the lite ot a leaf 

 extends over many seasons, in>tead of only 



This occurs particularly in thoso in- 

 stances where the plant concerned takes an 



gardens 



of 



note in Hertfordshire, ami in 1898 he re- 

 turned to The Node as head gardener Avhen 



the 



t a t e AA- a s p u r cha se d by his 1 ate 



