56 
THE FIRST BOOK OF BOTANY, 
EXERCISE XII. 
How to describe Leaves without Schedules . 
Pupils who have been diligent in the use of the 
preceding schedules ought now to be able to describe 
leaves without their aid. This exercise gives two 
such descriptions. They follow the same order as that 
given in the schedules. The first is a description of 
Fig. 1. 
The blade is simple, petiolate, stipulate, net-veined, 
feather-veined, serrate, abruptly acuminate, oval; 
petiole short; stipules adnate. 
The second describes Fig. 65, which represents a 
Compound, petiolate, stipulate, unequally pinnate 
leaf. Leaflets 5, petiolate, feather-veined, serrate, 
ovate; stipules adnate. 
With the next chapter you begin the study of 
stems. But you must not stop observing leaves if you 
are to remember what you have learned. In most 
cases it takes a good deal of time and many repeated 
observations to fix impressions in the mind so that 
they will not be forgotten. It often happens that we 
get familiar with the appearance of objects in a short 
time when we observe them intensely, but this famil¬ 
iarity is not lasting unless the attention is prolonged, 
or the impressions are revived at intervals. It will 
be best, therefore, to continue to describe leaves in 
the above form upon the stem-schedules that follow. 
In punctuating these descriptions—1. Separate 
adjectives relating to the same noun by commas; 2. 
Parts of the same organ by semicolons; 3. Distinct 
organs by a period. 
