Page:An introduction to physiological and systematical botany (1st edition).djvu/183

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
FORMS OF LEAVES.
153

scarcely to be found. Some species of Piper approach it, and the leaf of Hedysarum styracifolium is perfectly orbicular, except a notch at the base.

Subrotundum, roundish, as Pyrola, Engl. Bot. t. 146, 158 and t. 213, and many other plants.

Ovatum, ovate, of the shape of an egg cut lengthwise, the base being rounded and broader than the extremity, a very common form of leaves, as Urtica pilulifera, t. 148, and Vinca major, t. 514.

Obovatum, obovate, of the same figure with the broader end uppermost, as those of the Primrose, t. 4, and the Daisy, t. 424. Linnæus at first used the words obversè ovatum.

Ellipticum, or ovale, elliptical or oval, of a similar form to the foregoing, but of equal breadth at each end, as in the Lily of the Valley, and other Convallariæ, t. 1035, 279 and 280.

Oblongum, oblong, three or four times longer than broad. This term is used with great latitude, and serves chiefly in a specific character to contrast a leaf