409

The forms of trees.

In general almost all the upright portions of trees curve somewhat turning the convexity towards the South; and their branches are longer and thicker and more abundant towards the South than towards the North. And this occurs because the sun draws the sap towards that surface of the tree which is nearest to it.

And this may be observed if the sun is not screened off by other plants.

Taken from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci edited by Jean Paul Richter, 1880.

VII * X
Notebooks of Leonoardo da Vinci
VIII: Botany for Painters and Elements of Landscape Painting.
. . .
Classification of trees.
393
The relative thickness of the branches to the trunk.
394,
395
The law of proportion in the growth of the branches.
396,
397,
398,
399,
400,
401,
402
The direction of growth.
403,
404,
405,
406,
407
The forms of trees.
408,
409,
410,
411
The insertion of the leaves.
412,
413,
414,
415,
416,
417,
418,
419
Light on branches and leaves.
420,
421,
422
The proportions of light and shade in a leaf.
423,
424,
425,
426
Of the transparency of leaves.
427,
428,
429
. . .