"
[Illustration: Linear Lance-shaped Oblong Elliptical Ovate]
"That ought to be rounded at the point and narrow at the base," said the
doctor's son.
"It is. The lower leaves of the common field daisy are examples. How do
you think the botanists have named the shape that is like an egg upside
down?"
"'_Ob-ovate_', if it's like the other _ob_," guessed Dorothy.
"The leaflets that make up the horse-chestnut leaf are '_wedge-shaped_'
at the base," Helen reminded them.
"Then there are some leaves that have nothing remarkable about their
tips but have bases that draw your attention. One is
'_heart-shaped_'--like the linden leaf or the morning-glory. Another is
'_kidney-shaped_'. That one is wider than it is long."
[Illustration: Shield-shaped Oblancolate Spatulate
Rotund
Crenate Edge]
[Illustration: Heart-shaped Kidney-shaped]
"The hepatica is kidney-shaped," remarked James.
"The '_ear-shaped_' base isn't very common in this part of the world,
but there's a magnolia of that form. The '_arrow-shaped_' base you can
find in the arrow-weed in the brook. The shape like the old-time weapon,
the '_halberd_' is seen in the common sorrel."
"That nice, acid-tasting leaf?"
"Yes, that's the one. What does the nasturtium leaf remind you of?"
"Dicky always says that when the Jack-in-the-Pulpit stops preaching he
jumps on the back of a frog and takes a nasturtium leaf for a shield and
hops forth to look for adventures," said Roger, to whom Dicky confided
many of his ideas when they were working together in the garden.
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