38 
NOTES OF A BOTANIST chap. 
some genera of Sapinds (Cardiospermum, Serjania), 
whose leaflets often recall those of our Lady's- 
bower. Then there are the pinnated leaves, like 
those of our ash, walnut, and mountain-ash, pos- 
sessed by a great proportion of the extensive family 
of Leguminifers, by Terebinths, Simarubes, etc. ; 
and the bipinnate leaves of several genera of the 
Mimoseous sub-order, to which the arborescent 
vegetation of our northern climes affords no parallel. 
Some genera of Leguminifers have the leaflets 
reduced to a single pair, so as to look like twin 
leaves, such as the enormous trees called Yutahi 
(Hymenaea, Peltogyne), that yield the Brazilian 
copal ; and in some genera (as Bauhinia among 
trees, Schnella among lianas) the twin leaflets are 
actually united through part of their length so as to 
form one cloven leaf, and thus resemble an ox's 
hoof, whence the Portuguese name Unha de boy. 
One of the most marked types of foliage is that 
of the Melastomes — an order exceedingly abundant 
in species and individuals, and constituting a large 
proportion of the undergrowth of all forest, both 
recent and primitive, but never rising to be lofty 
trees. These all have opposite leaves — often of 
considerable size, and sometimes downy or shaggy 
— traversed by three, five, or seven stout ribs, 
which are united by transverse, closely-set, parallel 
veins, giving them a remarkably neat and geo- 
metrical appearance. Their near allies, the Myrtles 
— in some situations almost equally abundant — look 
very different, from their smaller, glossy, ribless 
leaves, beset with transparent dots ; and, in fact, are 
always recognisable from their great similarity to 
the common European myrtle. 
