Branchings Foreshortened; Leaves Turned to the Dew
Fern-like, round, and willow-like branch forms, and Leonardo's gourd grown on water alone
The page continues the tree chapters, first describing how a plant's branchings appear when foreshortened, spread like an open hand, with the middle parts most sharply foreshortened; some grow fern-like along riverbanks, others round, others sparse and transparent like the willow. Labelled paragraphs then observe that branch tips and the upright faces of leaves turn toward the sky to catch the dew that falls at night, and that the sun gives plants spirit and life while the earth's moisture nourishes them. To prove the last point Leonardo recounts leaving a gourd only a single small root and feeding it with water, whereupon it still ripened about sixty long gourds. A small ink sketch of a tree and a forked shoot stands beside the letter c.
On this page
How branchings appear foreshortened
Seen foreshortened, the leaves spread like an open hand; the higher parts are seen from below, the lower from above, and the middle parts are the most foreshortened of all those whose tips point toward you. Some branchings grow fern-like along riverbanks, others are round, and others sparse and transparent like the willow.
Leaves turned toward the sky for dew (c)
The extremities of a plant's branchings, unless weighed down by fruit, turn toward the sky as far as they can. The upright surfaces of the leaves stand turned skyward to receive the nourishment of the dew that falls in the night.
The gourd grown on water alone (d)
The sun gives spirit and life to plants and the earth nourishes them with moisture. To test this, Leonardo says he once left a gourd only a single smallest root and kept it fed with water; the plant still brought to perfection all its fruit, about sixty of those long gourds.
Ink sketch of a small tree beside label c
A small drawn tree with a slender trunk and radiating twigs, together with a Y-shaped forked shoot, sits in the middle of the page next to the letter c. It illustrates the branch forms and the skyward turning of the tips described in the surrounding text.