Leaf CharacteristicsWhat you need to know to identify plants

Wildland Plant Identification

REM 252

Leaf & Stem Arrangement

Basal

Alternate

Opposite

Whorled

Fascicled

basal Alternate Opposite Whorled

Leaf & Stem Arrangement

Basal

Opposite

Alternate

Whorled

Fascicled

Basal

Arrangement:

Agoseris glauca

Fascicled:

Pinus edulis

Leaf Arrangements

Alternate Opposite Whorled

Leaf Arrangement

Alternate

Opposite

Whorled

Leaf Attachment

Clasping

Sessile

Petiolate

Sheathing

Petiolate

Sheathing

Clasping

Sessile

Leaf Type: Simple or Compound

Leaf Types

Simple

Compound

Palmately Compound Pinnately Compound

Compound Leaves

Palmate

Pinnate

Simple Leaves

gobotany.comuptreeid.com

uptreeid.com

Leaf Shapes

Ovate Palmate

Linear Elliptic Lanceolate Oblanceolate

Wedge-shaped Arrow-shapedObovate

Leaf Shapes

OvatePopulus tremuloides

PalmateAcer glabrum

LinearSalix exigua

EllipticArctostaphylos pungens

LanceolateSenecio serra

OblanceolateHymenoxys hoopesii

Wedge-shapedArtemisia tridentata

Arrow-shapedBalsamorhiza sagittata

ObovateArctostaphylos

Uva-ursi

Leaf ShapesFig. 11

Leaf Veinations

Pinnate Palmate NettedParallel

Parallel

Venation

Pinnate

Venation

Palmate Venation

Netted Venation

Leaf Margins

Serrated

Pinnately Lobed Palmately Lobed

ToothedScallopedEntire

Leaf Margins

SerratedPrunus virginiana

Pinnately LobedQuercus gambelii

Palmately LobedRubus parviflorus

ToothedAmelanchier alnifolia

ScallopedSymphoricarpos occidentalis

EntireSymphoricarpos albus

More Leaf Margins

www.infovisual.info/01/011_en.html

If a leaf margin is very ragged and like it has been cut and sliced… then the

margin would be called incised or divided. It could be palmately divided,

pinnately divided or highly divided:

More Leaf MarginsIf a leaf margin is very ragged and like it has been cut and

sliced… then the margin would be called incised or divided.

It could be palmately divided, pinnately

divided or simply “highly divided”

Examples of Incised or Divided Leaf

Margins

IncisedCommon dandelion

(Taraxacum officinale)

Pinnately Divided Black mustard (Brassica nigra)

Palmately Divided Maple (Acer sp.)

Highly Divided Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota)

pnwherbaria.org

greergardens.com

botany.0catch.com

lucidcentral.org

Leaf MarginsFig. 13

in Brown Book

Websites

http://www.pnwherbaria.org/

http://plants.usda.gov/java/

http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbariu

m/imagecollection.php

http://idahograssbook.wix.com/close-up