

7 FLOWERING PLANTS 
Oleic ae ese |< 
THE LEAF 
Structure of LHERE 1s no organ of a plant which shows more 
Mesophytic variety of structure, more power of adapting 
Leal. _ itself to its surroundings, than the leaf. Fig. 41 
is a drawing of a-transverse section of the lamina of the sun- 
flower, which may be taken as a type of the mesophytic leaf. 

Fic. 41.—SuNFLOWER LEAF, TRANSVERSE SECTION OF BLADE. 
(High power. ) 
e, upper epidermis; s, stomate ; zt, intercellular spaces ; p.p, palisade 
parenchyma with chlorophyll; sp.p, spongy parenchyma ; e’, lower epi- 
dermis ; g.c, guard cells. 
The section is bounded on each side by a row of epidermal 
cells with a thin cuticle (Lat. cutis, skin). Stomata are 
present in both the upper and the lower epidermis, but are 

