leaves

• Leaves are a flattened plant organ derived from the leaf primordia of the shoot apex, serving as the main site of photosynthesis and transpiration.
• The primary functions of leaves include photosynthesis, the process in which light energy is converted to chemical energy in the form of sugars, and transpiration, the physiological loss of water in the form of water vapor, mainly from the stomata in leaves, but also through evaporation from the surfaces of leaves, flowers, and stems.
• Katakataka and Walking fern are examples of plants with reproductive leaves.
• Insect-catching plants are those especially adapted for capturing and digesting insects and other animals by means of ingenious pitfalls and traps, such as the Venus Flytrap and Pitcher Plant.
• Reproductive leaves are specialized leaves that can produce new plants.
• Poinsettia is an example of a plant with bracts.
• Bracts are a modified leaf that is usually associated with a flower or inflorescence.
• Secondary functions of leaves include defense mechanisms such as spines, found in cacti, and cones, found in gymnosperms.
• Leaves also have hairs that prevent water loss in dry climates and sting animals that detour herbivores, such as in the Urticaceae family.
• Cuticle serve to protect against water loss, rain, and forms of contamination.
• Bract-like leaves are found in some plants, such as in the association with flowers.
• Cyathophylls are leaf-like bract-like structures that sit on the involucre of a euphorbia.
• Spathe is a large bract or pair of bracts that surrounds the flower cluster of certain plants.
• Palea and Lemma describe the typical arrangement of the flowers of grasses, sedges and some other monocots.
• Leaves can store food and water, and are modified to meet these functions, as seen in succulent plants and bulb scales.
• Dicot leaves are less linear than monocot leaves, have a net-like vein pattern (reticulate venation), and have stomata, pores for gas exchange at the lower portion of the leaf.
• Phyllodes are a modified leaf stem, or petiole, that looks and functions like a leaf.
• Domatia are structures produced by plants to provide shelter for arthropods, usually small cavities, pockets, or tufts of hair found in the axils of veins on the lower surface of leaves.
• Stipules are a small, leaf-like appendage that grows at the base of a leafstalk.
• Leaves produce buds that can be used for vegetation propagation, as seen in Katakataka.
• Dicot leaves have a large intercellular space, parenchymatous bundle sheathing, and have large vascular bundles.
• Monocot leaves are equally green on both sides (isobilateral), have the upper and lower epidermis, and have large vascular bundles.
• Leaf Shape is the overall shape of the leaf.
• Types of Simple Leaf include Entire, Oblong, Cordate, Sinuate, Serrated, Palmately Lobed, Hierarchically Lobed, and Divided.
• Hydathodes are organs found on the aerial parts of many plant species that are also known as water stomata because of their structural resemblance to stomata.
• Monocot leaves are linear or oblong shaped with long length, parallel venation, and have stomata on both sides of the leaves (amphistomatic).
• Simple Leaf is a single leaf blade that is attached to a stem by a petiole.
• Types of Leaf Shape include Linear, Elliptical, Oblong, Cordate, Sinuate, Serrated, Palmately Lobed, Hierarchically Lobed, and Divided.
• Nectaries are glandular structures found on the leaves or stems of some plants that produce a sweet, sticky substance called nectar, which attracts insects like ants and wasps.
• Cladophylls are stems that look and function like leaves.
• Parts of the leaf include the Lamina, also known as leaf blade, which is the green, flat surface of the leaves, consisting of a small branched vein and veinlets.
• The Petiole is the long, thin, stalk that links the leaf blade to the stem.
• The Midrib is the central vein of a leaf or leaf-like organ, usually the most prominent vein and runs from the stem to the apex.
• Vein are vascular tissues that transport water and minerals to and from a plant's leaf.
• The Margin is the edge of the leaf.
• The Leaf Apex is the tip of the leaf blade, which is the chlorophyll-containing part of the leaf.
• The Base is the part where a leaf attaches to the stem.
• Alternate a single leaf is attached to each node on a plant's stem, alternating sides.
• Dichotomous veins branching symmetrically in pairs.
• Reniform kidney-shaped.