Leaf morphology

the stalk of a leaf

In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). They are primarily found among dicots and rare among monocots. Stipules are considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many species they may be inconspicuous —or sometimes entirely absent, and the leaf is then termed exstipulate. At the other end of the scale are species like Artocarpus elasticus where the stipules can be up to eight inches (twenty cm) in length. (In some older botanical writing, the term "stipule" w

thumb|upright|A curling tendril

physical form of plant leaf including overall shape, edge shape, vein geometry, type of attachment to stem; point and base shape

in botany, the ultimate unit of a compound leaf

deciduous trees' and shrubs' autumnal change of leaf color from green to other colors

thumb|300px|The names of fern frond parts (Davallia tyermanii) thumb|right|300px|A fern (Dryopteris decipiens) with simple (lobed or pinnatifid) blades, the dissection of each blade not quite reaching to the rachis. thumb|right|300px|A growing fern frond unfurling. thumb|right|300px|Unfurling fiddlehead fern frond

Phyllodes are modified petioles or leaf stalks, which are leaf-like in both appearance and function. In some plants, these become flattened and widened, while the leaf itself becomes reduced or vanishes altogether. Thus the phyllode comes to serve the purpose of the leaf. Some important examples are Euphorbia royleana which are cylindrical and Opuntia which are flattened. thumb|right|[[Acacia suaveolens (Sm.) Willd. [as Mimosa suaveolens Sm.] La Billardière (Labillardière), J.-J. Houton de, Novae Hollandiae plantarum specimen, vol. 2: p. 87, t. 236 (1804) (Poiteau)]]

thumb|The stems of Athrotaxis are covered with small flat pointed leaves called "scale leaves" or "cataphylls". In plant morphology, a cataphyll (sometimes also called a cataphyllum or cataphyll leaf) is a reduced, small leaf. Many plants have both "true leaves" (euphylls), which perform most of the photosynthesis, and cataphylls, which are modified to perform other functions.

thumb|right|200px|Section through the pulvinus of Oxalis rosea, from: [[Charles Darwin (1880): The Power of Movement in Plants.]] thumb|Pulvini of Jacaranda jasminoides A pulvinus (pl. pulvini) may refer to a joint-like thickening at the base of a plant leaf or leaflet that facilitates growth-independent movement. Pulvinus is also a botanical term for the persistent peg-like bases of the leaves in the coniferous genera Picea and Tsuga. Pulvinar movement is common, for example, in members of the bean family Fabaceae (Leguminosae) and the prayer plant family Marantaceae.

thumb|The two distinct leaf types of Ranunculus aquatilis, the common water-crowfoot, at and under the water surface. Heterophylly is where a plant has at least two different types of leaves. The differences may be in shape or size of the leaves. A particularly dramatic example of a heterophyllous plant is Ranunculus aquatilis. It, like many aquatic plants, develops two very distinctive leaf types in response to the top of the plant being exposed to air. Underwater the leaves are very divided into thin strands while at or above the water surface it produces a wide, only partly divided, leaf bl

small ear-like projection from the base of a leaf or petal

Vernation or leafing is the formation of new leaves or fronds. In plant anatomy, it is the arrangement of leaves in a bud.

plant leaf with one single, unbranched leaf vein

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