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Chart illustrating leaf morphology terms. The following terms are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade is divided into two or more leaflets). [1]
Compound leaves are closer to shoots than simple leaves. Developmental studies have shown that compound leaves, like shoots, may branch in three dimensions. [41] [42] On the basis of molecular genetics, Eckardt and Baum (2010) concluded that "it is now generally accepted that compound leaves express both leaf and shoot properties."
[4] [5] "Frond" is commonly used to identify a large, compound leaf, but if the term is used botanically to refer to the leaves of ferns and algae it may be applied to smaller and undivided leaves. Fronds have particular terms describing their components. Like all leaves, fronds usually have a stalk connecting them to the main stem.
Leaf Base Shape: Semiamplexicaul – the leaf base wraps around the stem, but not completely. Leaf Blade Apex: Acuminate – narrowing to a point (a term used for other structures, too). Acute – with a sharp, rather abrupt ending-point. Acutifolius – with acute leaves. Attenuate – tapering gradually to a narrow end. Leaf Blade Margins:
(of a compound leaf) Having precisely two leaflet s, usually in a symmetrical pair, e.g. a leaf of Colophospermum mopane. Compare jugate lobed leaf, e.g. most species of Bauhinia. bifusiform Fusiform with a pinch in the middle. bilabiate Having two lips, e.g. the form of the petal s in many irregular flowers. bilateral 1.
A leaflet (occasionally called foliole) in botany is a leaf-like part of a compound leaf. [1] Though it resembles an entire leaf, a leaflet is not borne on a main plant stem or branch, as a leaf is, but rather on a petiole or a branch of the leaf. [2] Compound leaves are common in many plant families and they differ widely in morphology. [3]
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Some apply it to the leaflets of a pinna, especially the leaflets of bipinnate or tripinnate leaves. [7] Others also or alternatively apply it to second or third order divisions of a bipinnate or tripinnate leaf. [8] It is the ultimate free division (or leaflet) of a compound leaf, or a pinnate subdivision of a multipinnate leaf.