Leaflet (botany)

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] The two main classes of compound leaf morphology are palmate and pinnate. For example, a hemp plant has palmate compound leaves, whereas some species of Acacia have pinnate leaves.

Palmately compound leaf of hemp

The ultimate free division (or leaflet) of a compound leaf, or a pinnate subdivision of a multipinnate leaf is called a pinnule or pinnula.

• Pinnate leaf of a legume with 10 leaflets

• Mimosa pudica folding leaflets inward.

See also

 

Look up leaflet (botany) in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Compound leaf

References

1. Walters, Dirk R.; Keil, David J. (1996). Vascular Plant Taxonomy (4th ed.). Dubuque, Iowa, USA: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-7872-2108-9.
2. "Types of Leaf Forms". Biology LibreTexts. 16 July 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
3. Koch, Garance; Rolland, Gaëlle; Dauzat, Myriam; Bédiée, Alexis; Baldazzi, Valentina; Bertin, Nadia; Guédon, Yann; Granier, Christine (2018). "Are compound leaves more complex than simple ones? A multi-scale analysis". Annals of Botany (published December 2018). 122 (7): 1173–1185. doi:10.1093/aob/mcy116. ISSN 0305-7364. PMC 6324747. PMID 29982438.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)