The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits

by Mary Elizabeth Parsons

THE MARGIN

Leaves are classified according to their margins; as—

entire, when the margin is completely filled out to an even line;

repand, or undulate, when the margin is a wavy line;

dentate, or toothed, when the teeth point outward;

crenate, or scalloped, when dentate, with the teeth rounded;

serrate, when having small sharp teeth directed forward;

incised, when cut by sharp and irregular incisions more or less deeply;

lobed, when cut not more than half-way to the midrib, and the divisions or their angles are rounded;

cleft, when cut half-way down or more, and the lobes or sinuses are narrow or acute;

parted, when the cutting reaches almost but not quite to the midrib;

divided, when the blade is cut into distinct parts, thus making the leaf compound.

All these terms may be modified by the words pinnate or palmate; thus—pinnately parted, pinnately divided, palmately parted, palmately divided, etc.; also by the adjectives once, twice, thrice, etc.