Part 7

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.

TEXTURE

Leaves vary as to texture, and may be--

coriaceous, or leathery;

succulent, or juicy;

scarious, or dry and thin;

fleshy, or thick;

herbaceous, or thin.

ARRANGEMENT

According to their arrangement on the stem, leaves are--

alternate, when distributed singly at different heights on the stem;

opposite, when two stand opposite each other at the nodes;

whorled, when more than two are borne at a node, equidistant in a circle around the stem.

INFLORESCENCE

=Inflorescence= is a term commonly applied to the mode of flowering--i.e. to the arrangement of blossoms on the stem and their relative positions to one another.

A =peduncle= is the stem of a solitary flower, or the main stem of a flower-cluster;