Plants and their children

by Frances Theodora Parsons

LEAF SHAPES

As I told you before, we should notice always the shape of a leaf.

Fig. 145

It is much easier to describe some new plant we have met on our walks if we remember the shape of its leaves.

Next summer I hope you will make a collection of leaves, pressing and keeping them. I think you will be amazed at their great variety in shape.

Fig. 146

Some you find long and narrow, others almost round. Some are arrow-shaped, others star-shaped, others needle-shaped (Fig. [145]). Some are three-pointed like the maple leaf (Fig. [146]); others deeply-parted, like the oak leaf (Fig. [147]).