Handbook of the British flora : a description of the flowering plants and ferns indigenous to, or naturalized in, the British Isles for the use of beginners and amateurs / by George Bentham.

George Bentham

Date:: 1858

Credit: Handbook of the British flora : a description of the flowering plants and ferns indigenous to, or naturalized in, the British Isles for the use of beginners and amateurs / by George Bentham. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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INTBODTTCTION. Branches are forked, wlicn, instead of proceeding from the side of a main stem the stem itself is divided into two equal branches. ' dicholomous, when each fork is again forked, or tlie same mode of divi- sion IS several times repeated. trichotomows, when divided in the same manner into three branches at each division instead of two. When the middle branch is evidently the principal one, the stem is usually said to have two opposite branches • if the central one is smaller or not larger than the two others, the word Iri- chotomous is applied. umbellate, when divided in the same manner into several branches, with the central one not larger than the others. § 5. The Leaves. The ordinary perfect Leaf consists of a flat hlade or lamina, usually green, and more or less horizontal, supported on, or connected with the stem by a stalk called a petiole. When the form or dimensions of a leaf are spoken o^ it is generally the blade that is meant, without the petiole or stalk. Leaves are sessile, when the blade rests on the stem without the intervention of a petiole. amplexicaiil, or stem-clasping, when the sessile base of the blade is not a mere pomt, but forms more or less of a ring, clasping the stem horizon- tally. perfoliate, when the base of the blade not only clasps the stem, but closes round it on the opposite side, so that the stem appears to pierce through the leaf itself. decurrent, when the edges of the leaf are continued down the stem so as to form raised lines or narrow appendages called wings. sheathing, when the base of the blade, or of the more or less expanded petiole, forms a vertical sheath round the stem for some distance above the node. Leaves and flowers are called radical, when inserted on a rhizome or stock, or so close to the base of the stem as to appear to proceed from the root, rhizome, or stock. Eadical leaves are rosulate, when they spread in a circle on the ground. Leaves are simple and entire, when the blade consists of a single piece, with the margin nowhere indented, simple being used in opposition to compound, entire in opposition to dentate, lohed, or divided. ciliate, when bordered vrith thick hau's, or fine hau'-Uke teeth. dentate, or toothed, when the margin is only cut a little way in, into what have been compared to teeth. Such leaves are serrate, when the teeth are regular and poiuted Uke the teeth of a saw; crenate, when regular and blunt or rounded (compared to the battlements of a tower) ; sinuate, when broad, not deep and irregular (compared to bays of the const) ; wavy, wlien the edges are not flat, but bent up and down (compared to the waves of the sea). lohed, or cleft, when more deeply indented or divided, but so that the incisions do not reach the midrib or petiole. The teeth of these leaves take the name of lobes. divided, when the incisions reach the midrib or petiole, but tlio parts

Handbook of the British flora : a description of the flowering plants and ferns indigenous to, or naturalized in, the British Isles for the use of beginners and amateurs / by George Bentham.

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