The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci Complete


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In the walnut tree the leaves which are distributed on the shoots of  
this year are further apart from each other and more numerous in  
proportion as the branch from which this shoot springs is a young  
one. And they are inserted more closely and less in number when the  
shoot that bears them springs from an old branch. Its fruits are  
borne at the ends of the shoots. And its largest boughs are the  
lowest on the boughs they spring from. And this arises from the  
weight of its sap which is more apt to descend than to rise, and  
consequently the branches which spring from them and rise towards  
the sky are small and slender [20]; and when the shoot turns towards  
the sky its leaves spread out from it [at an angle] with an equal  
distribution of their tips; and if the shoot turns to the horizon  
the leaves lie flat; and this arises from the fact that leaves  
without exception, turn their underside to the earth [29].  
The shoots are smaller in proportion as they spring nearer to the  
base of the bough they spring from.  
[Footnote: See the two sketches on Pl XXVII, No. 4. The second  
refers to the passage lines 20-30.]  
4
15.  
OF THE INSERTION OF THE LEAVES ON THE BRANCHES.  
298  


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296 297 298 299 300

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