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Updated: June 19, 2025
The restless movement of its leaves is "produced by the peculiar form of the foot-stalks, and, indeed, in some degree, the whole tribe of poplars are subject to have their leaves agitated by the slightest breeze."
The plantain tree grows to about twenty feet in height, its round, soft stem being composed of the elongated foot-stalks of the leaves, and its cone of a nodding flower-spike or cluster of purple blossoms that are very graceful and beautiful. Like the palms, this tree has no branches, but its smooth, glossy leaves are from six to eight feet in length and two or more in breadth.
A handsome Japanese shrub that will be valued for its neat Rhododendron-like foliage, compact habit of growth, and for the conspicuous bark which is of a warm reddish hue. The leaves are large and elliptic, six inches long, and are rendered strangely conspicuous from the foot-stalks and midrib being dull crimson, this affording a striking contrast to the delicate green of the leaves.
It grows about four or five inches high, with branched stems bearing very succulent, kidney-shaped leaves opposite each other the radicle leaves on long foot-stalks, whilst those of the stem-leaves are much shorter. The flowers, which are of a bright greenish-yellow, grow in small umbels; and the whole plant has a yellowish hue.
The sweet-scented Virginian Raspberry forms a rather dense, upright growing bush, fully 4 feet high, with large broadly five-lobed and toothed leaves, that are more or less viscid, sweet-scented, and deciduous. The leaves are placed on long, hairy, viscid foot-stalks. Flowers in terminal corymbs, large and nearly circular, purplish-red in colour, and composed of five broad, round petals.
It might have been thought that the foot-stalks of leaves would have tempted the worms as a convenient handle; yet they are not largely used, except when the base of the blade is narrower than the apex. A large number of the petioles of the ash are drawn in by the base; but this part serves the worms as food.
Several of the trees I have described, which have long foot-stalks above their leaves, from which the natives make their spears, were growing near, and from these two long poles were speedily cut. They were tough and light, and sufficiently strong to bear my sister's weight. Some cross-pieces were secured to them, and the intervals filled up with the long spiral leaves from the same tree.
The shrub itself seldom rises more than two feet high, is much branched, and has no thorns. The leaves resemble those of the common gooseberry, except in being smaller, and the berry is supported by separate peduncles or foot-stalks half an inch long.
They do not act in the same unvarying manner in all cases, as do most of the lower animals; for instance, they do not drag in leaves by their foot-stalks, unless the basil part of the blade is as narrow as the apex, or narrower than it.
For instance, it is clearly a great advantage to a twining plant to become a leaf-climber; and it is probable that every twiner which possessed leaves with long foot-stalks would have been developed into a leaf-climber, if the foot-stalks had possessed in any slight degree the requisite sensitiveness to a touch.
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