48 
HOW PLANTS GROW. 
136. The shape at the base. This is concerned in all the following sorts: — 
Heart-shaped , or Cordate; when of the shape in which a heart is painted, the 
base having a recess or notch, as in Fig. 98. 
Kidney-shaped , or Reniform; like heart-shaped, but rounder, and broader than 
long, as in Fig. 99. 
Auricled , or Barred; having a small projection or lobe on each side at the base, 
like a pair of ears, as in Fig. 101. 
Arrow-shaped , or Arrow-headed; 
when such lobes at the base are 
Auricled, 
or eared. 
Halberd-shaped, 
or hastate. 
103 
pointed and turned backwards, like the base of an arrow-head, as in Fig. 100. 
Halberd-shaped , or Hastate ; when such lobes point outwards, giving the whole 
blade the shape of the halberd of the olden time, as in Fig. 102. 
Shield-shaped , or Peltate; when the footstalk is attached to some part of the 
lower face of the blade, which may be likened to a shield borne by the hand with 
the arm extended. Fig. 104 represents the shield-shaped leaf of a Water-Penny¬ 
wort. Fig. 103 is the leaf of another species, which is not shield-shaped. A 
comparison of the two shows how the shield¬ 
shaped leaf is made. 
137. As to the Apex or Point , we have the 
following terms, the first six of which apply 
to the base as well as to the apex of a leaf: — 
Pointed , Taper-pointed , or Acuminate ; 
narrowed into a tapering tip, as in Fig. 105. 
Acute ; ending in an acute angle, Fig. 106. 
Obtuse ; ending in an obtuse angle, or with a blunt or rounded apex; as in Fig. 107. 
Truncate; as if cut off square at the apex, as in Fig. 108. 
