Botany 111.

1 Plant Morphoanatomy and Diversity Laboratory

EXERCISE 6
THE LEAF

INTRODUCTION

The leaf is a lateral outgrowth that develops from the node of the stem. The leaf is typically a thin,
expanded structure with a green color. It is regarded as the most important vegetative organ because
of its function in food manufacture or photosynthesis.

Leaves have a considerable value in plant identification. Plants have varied leaf forms such that some
plant taxa are distinguishable by their leaf characteristics. They vary in leaf bases, leaf tips, leaf margins,
and so on

In this exercise, morpho-anatomical features of the leaf will be studied in relation to its normal
function of photosynthesis and transpiration and in relation to plant habit.

MATERIALS

Shoots about 1 foot long of the following plants: Electric or compound

microscope (one per student
if available)
Saccharum officinarum Allium cepa Prepared slides:
x.s. of Ixora leaf
Zea mays Aloe vera x.s. of Pinus leaf
Bougainvillea spectabilis Asparagus x.s. of Zea mays, corn leaf
Hedychium Opuntia/ Nopalea
Ophiopogon jaburan Citrus microcarpa
Coleus blumei Bryophyllum pinnatum
Pisum sativum Eicchornia crassipes
Psidium guajava Musa
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Nepenthes
Rosa Euphorbia pulcherrima
Citrus grandis Mussaenda
Ricinus communis Paspalum
Centella asiatica

External Morphology

Lab Work 1.
A. Observe the following in your specimens. Note the different variations in the different leaf
parts. Fill out the Table.
Table 1. Variations in the different leaf parts.
Specimen Base Tip Outline Margin Venation Leaf surface

1.

2.

3.

1. Types of leaves according to form

a. Simple – when the blade is composed of a single unit
Exercise 6. The
Leaf b. Compound leaves – when the blade is composed of more than a unit
a. Palmately compound leaves – when the leaflet originates from a common point
b. Pinnately compound leaves - when the leaflets are borne on a rachis, a continuation
of the petioles
i. Odd-pinnate – uneven pinnate or imparipinnate
ii. Even-pinnate – abruptly pinnate
1. Bipinnate – tice pinnate; decompound
2. Tripinnate – thrice pinnately compound
3. Unifoliate – when there is only one leaflet
4. Bifoliate – when there are two leaflets
5. Trifoliate orternate – when there are three leaflets, etc.

Type of Leaf Basic Unit Stalk Extension of stalk Appendages at

base of leaf
Simple leaf Leaf Petiole Midrib Stipules
Compound leaf Leaflet or pinnae petiolule Rachis Stipels

2. Types of leaves according to duration

a. Deciduous – the leaves fall off soon after maturity, this term applies to trees that shed their
leaves at the same time
b. Diurnal – opening only during the day
c. Ephemeral – the leaves only lasts for a day or less. This term also applies to flowers
d. Evergreen – the leaves are persistent
e. Fugacious or caducous – the leaves fall off very early
f. Nocturnal – the leaves open during the night
g. Persistent – the leaves remain on the plant and function for more than a year
3. Types of venation – the mode of arrangement of veins or nerves on the leaf
blade
a. Reticulate or netted – the veins and veinlets anastomose to form a network
a. Pinnately-netted venation - the veins are perpendicularly directed to the midrib
b. Palmately-netted venation – there is no prominent midrib on the center of the leaf
blade but several major veins start from a common point at the leaf base and
radiates at different points on the leaf margin
b. Parallel venation – the veins are more or less equidistant from each other
4. Modification in leaf stalk
a. Amplexicaul – when the petiole clasps the stem
b. Cylindric – when there is no distinction between the blade and the petiole
c. Decurrent – when the edges of the leaf extend downward along the stem as ridges or
wings
d. Equitant – when the leaves are vertical, each overlapping the next beneath it as if it were
folded together lengthwise
e. Perfoliate – when the lobes meet around the stem so that the blade appears to be pierced
by the stem
f. Radical – when the leaves are borne on the roots or rhizomes or very close to the base
g. Rosulate – radical leaves that spread in a circle on the ground
2
Exercise 6. The
Leaf h. Sessile – when the petiole is absent

3
 i. Sheathing – when the base of the blade or the petiole forms a more or less closed vertical
cylinder surrounding the stem.
5. Leaf bases
a. Auricled or auriculate – eared; having a pair of ear-like projections at the base.
b. Cordate – heart-shaped; a sinus is present where the petiole is attached.
c. Cuneate – when the leaf base is narrow to broad, wedge-like, tapering, acute, the sides
straight.
d. Hastate – the base has a pair of basal lobes that flare outward.
e. Oblique – when the lowermost sides of the leaf is markedly unequal.
f. Peltate – the base is shield-shaped, with the petiole attached at or near the center of the
lower surface of a usually orbicular blade.
g. Perfoliate – when the base extends around the stem, the leaf being sessile.
h. Sagittate or arrow-shaped – when the “ears” or lobes are acute and turned downwards.
6. Outline or shape of leaves
a. Acicular or acerose – the leaf blade is shaped like a needle, as in Pinus, very slender, usually
rounded in cross section
b. Cordate – heart-shaped, especially with regard to the base.
c. Cuneate or wedge-shaped – broad above, tapering by nearly straight lines to the
base
d. Deltoid – the blade is more or less shaped like an equilateral triangle.
e. Elliptic – like an ellipse, equally rounded at both ends.
f. Falcate – when the leaf is more or less curved.
g. Filiform – threadlike, very slender and cylindrical, often flexuous
h. Flabellate or fan-shaped
i. Lanceolate – narrow and tapering toward the ends like the shape of a lance.
j. Linear – narrow and several times longer than wide; the margins are parallel.
k. Lorate – when the blade is strap-shaped, flattened and flexuous.
l. Obdeltoid – the reverse of deltoid.
m. Oblanceolate – the reverse of lanceolate.
n. Oblong – about twice as longa s broad, with the sides nearly parallel through the middle
portion.
o. Obovate – similar to ovate, but with the petiole at the narrow end.
p. Orbicular – when the leaf is circular in shape.
q. Oval – somewhat like an elliptic, but the breadth distinctly more than one half of the length;
broadly ovate.
r. Ovate – egg-shaped like the longitudinal section of hen’s egg, in which the petiole is attached
to
the broad end.
s. Peltate – when the petiole is attached to the lower surface of the blade, the petiole
appearing as though it pierced the blade.
t. Reniform – when the leaf blade is shaped like a kidney.
u. Rhombic or rhomboidal – the blade is shaped like a diamond, the petiole is attached to one
of the sharper angles.
v. Spatulate – when the leaf is narrow, more or less rounded above and tapering from the
apex.
 w. Subulate – slender and tapering from the base upward; awl-shaped.
7. Variation in leaf margins
a. Ciliate – the leaf margin has row of fine hairs, sometimes so minute that it is not detected
by the naked eye.
b. Circinate – the margin is rolled inward from the top.
 c. Crenate – the “teeth” along the margins are rounded.
d. Crenulate – the diminutive of crenate
e. Crispate – when the margin curves in a vertical plane in minute waves as in parsley
f. Dentate or toothed – when the teeth are sharped and point outward.
g. Denticulate – similar to dentate but with finer teeth
h. Dissected – when the margin is cut into more or less finer divisions.
i. Doubly-serrate – when the teeth or serrate margins themselves serrulate or bears teeth.
j. Entire – smooth; the margin has no indentation of any sort.
k. Involute – when the margin are rolled inward toward the upper side.
l. Lacerate – when the margins are irregularly cut about one half to two-thirds the distance to
the midrib.
m. Laciniate – when the leaf blade is cut into narrow or more or less ribbon-like segments.
n. Palmatifid – when the margins are palmately cleft or parted.
o. Pinnatifid – when the margins are pinnately cleft or parted.
p. Repand or Undulate – the margins are slightly wavy or weakly sinuate.
q. Revolute – when the margins are rolled backward to the underside.
r. Serrate – when the margin is cut into a deep, sharp teeth pointing forward like the teeth of a
saw.
s. Serrulate – the diminutive of serrate.
t. Sinuate – when the margin becomes strongly wavy.

8. Degree of lobing in leaves

a. Incised – when the margins are cut jaggedly into very deep teeth and the teeth are very
irregular
b. Lobed – when the margins are deeply cut but the incisions do not reach more than halfway
to the midrib.
c. Cleft – nearly the same as lobed, but the incisions extending more than halfway to the midrib.
d. Parted – when the incisions extend nearly to the midrib.
e. Divided – when the incisions extend to the midrib or almost quite to it.
9. Leaf apex or leaf tip
a. Acuminate – when the tip is pointed, but the tapering lines are incurved.
b. Acute – when the tip ends in an acute angle with straight sides.
c. Apiculate – the leaf tip is provided with a small sharp-pointed structure which is
d. Aristate – the leaf tip is extended to a longer and more or less bristle-like appendage.
e. Attenuate – the leaf tip has an elongated tapering point.
f. Caudate – when the leaf tip is elongated and tail-like.
g. Cirrhose – the leaf tip is filiform and coils like a tendril.
h. Cuspidate – the leaf tip is an abrupt, firm and pointed structure.
i. Emarginate – the tip is prominently notched and indented.
j. Mucronate – the tip is an apical short abrupt pointed structure.
k. Obcordate – the reverse of cordate.
l. Obtuse – the tips is blunt or narrowly rounded.
m. Retuse – when the tip is slightly notched.
n. Rounded - the tip is gently curved, broad and semi-circular in outline.
 o. Spinose – the tip develops into a spiny structure.
p. Truncate – when the tip is seemingly cut-off square or nearly so.
10. Leaf texture
 a. Cartilaginous – the leaf is hard, tough and often thin.
b. Chartaceous – the leaf is paper-like.
c. Coriaceous – the leaf is leathery, rather thick and tough.
d. Fleshy – when the leaf is thick and soft.
e. Hyaline – the leaf is thin and wholly transparent.
f. Membranaceous – when the leaf is thin and more or less flexible, semi-transparent.
g. Scarious – when the leaf is thin and dry, seemingly shriveled.
h. Suberous – when the leaf resembles that of a cork.
i. Succulent – almost similar to fleshy but more juicy in appearance.
11. Leaf surface
a. Glabrous – the leaf surface is devoid of any vestiture, smooth.
b. Pubescent – the presence of hairiness of any type.
a. Bloom – a whitish, waxy powder on the surface of leaves and fruits.
b. Canescent – the hairs that are present are grayish and not sot distinct to the naked
eye.
c. Furfuraceous – the surface is covered with small, spreading scales.
d. Glaucous – when the surface is pale-bluish, often with waxy bloom.
e. Glandular – the surface is covered with glands or small secretory structures.
f. Hirsute – the hairs present are stiff and spreading.
g. Hispid – the hairs are still stiffer as compared with hirsute, dense, erect, and straight.
h. Mealy or farinose – the hairs present are very short which readily rubs off.
i. Pilose – the hairs present are long and soft.
j. Puberulent – the hairs are very soft and short.
k. Rugose – the surface displays a wrinkled appearance.
l. Scabrous – the surface is rough to touch.
m. Scarious – the surface is dry, thin, and membranaceous.
n. Scurfy – the surface is covered with scales.
o. Stellate – the hairs when present are star-shaped.
p. Strigose – the hairs that are present are soft and stiff, closely appressed to the
surface and pointing to one direction.
q. Tomentose or Floccose – the hairs are woolly, the hairs are soft and more or less
matted together.
r. Velutinous – tha hairs exhibit a velvety appearance.

12. Other taxonomic terms related to leaves

a. Bract – a modified leaf that subtends a flower
b. Bracteoles – these are small bracts.
c. Bud scale – a small scale that envelopes a bud.
d. Bulb scale – these are fleshy and succulent leaves as in onion.
e. Chaff – a bract that is present at the base of an achene in composite flowers.
f. Glume – a bract that covers the flowers in most grasses.
g. Involucre – is a collective term for bracts.
h. Lemma – the outermost bract that subtends a grass floret. It is one of two bracts present in
grasses.
i. Palea – the inner bract present in a grass floret.
j. Phyllary – a kind of bract that surrounds the head of plants belonging to Asteraceae
family. Sometimes this is referred to as involucral bract.
 k. Pitcher – an enlarged pitcher-like structure present in most members of the Nepenthaceae family.
It is an insectivorous leaf.
l. Spathe – an enlarged bract, which encloses and inflorescence. It is sometimes variously colored.
It is a characteristic of Araceae family.

B. Examine the monocot and dicot leaves. Observe the morphological features in each group.
Make a list of these features in Table 2.

Table 2. Morphological features of monocot and dicot leaves.

Monocot Dicot
Leaf stalk
Leaf sheath
Lamina or blade
Venation
Stipule
Ligule
Others

Internal Anatomy of Leaves Lab

Work 2.

1. Observe the prepared slides of Ixora, Zea mays, and Pinus.

2. The objective is to take a close, comparative look at all three kinds of leaves, and consider the
biological implications of their differences.
3. Sketch these representatives and label using the guide below.

The three types of leaves you are comparing come from quite unrelated plant species, which also
happen to differ in their environmental tolerances. A good example to learn for "typical" leaf
structure is Ixora, mesophytic [adapted to average conditions- not too wet nor too dry. Locate the
epidermis, mesophyll layer (palisade and spongy), and stomata. Corn, like many grasses of tropical
origin, is especially well adapted to rapid growth in warm, bright conditions. A pine leaf, finally, is
xerophytic [considered to be highly adapted to resist both drying and freezing].

The thick pine leaf is less vulnerable to water loss because it has a much smaller evaporative surface,
sunken stomates, a thick cuticle, sclerified epidermal cells, special arrangement of the photosynthetic
tissues and an endodermis that can control water movement within the leaf. These extreme water
conserving features are especially important during the winter, when frozen xylem prevents water
replacement [sometimes for months at a time]. Underlying and reinforcing the epidermis of pine
leaves are one to three layers of sclerified hypodermis. The combination of these extra layers and a
well-developed cuticle result in pine leaves having better control of water loss.

The corn leaf is intermediate in ability to absorb light and intermediate in its ability to resist drying
out. A distinctive feature of upper epidermis of a corn leaf are rows of large, bulliform cells that run
full length of the leaf lamina. Under extended drought conditions, the bulliform cells collapse and
cause the leaf to roll up. In doing so, a high percent of the stomates are covered by other parts of
the lamina or are inside of the cylinder formed by the leaf. As a result, the leaf loses much less
water through transpiration and the plant
 may survive the drought period. Of course, the same features that reduce water loss also reduce CO2
absorption and photosynthetic rates are reduced.

The photosynthetic mesophyll tissue occurs just inside the epidermis, often in several layers. Note that in
the Ixora leaf the cells of the mesophyll are packed densely in the upper part of the leaf, and loosely in
the lower part. This is consistent with a leaf that is positioned horizontally to the ground, with
predictable upper and lower surfaces. The close packing and orderly arrangement of the upper
palisade mesophyll enhance light interception, perhaps at the expense of efficient diffusion of carbon
dioxide. The more loosely arranged spongy mesophyll beneath favors carbon dioxide diffusion. Most
of the stomates in leaf occur in the lower epidermis and provide passages between the outside air
and the spongy mesophyll.

Note that corn leaves lack mesophyll differentiation. This is in keeping with the less horizontal
orientation we expect in a grass leaf. Sun is likely to strike the relatively vertical corn leaf from either
side, depending on the time of day. Look for stomates in the corn leaf cross section. Just to the inside
of the leaf beneath each stomate is a sub-stomatal chamber, which serves to improve the diffusion of
carbon dioxide through the mesophyll.

In santan and corn leaves, the mesophyll occupies all the space between the upper and lower
epidermis except for the vascular bundles (veins) that traverse the leaf. In pine leaves, though, the
mesophyll extends only to the endodermis, which separates it from the central transfusion tissue, in which
the vascular bundles are embedded. Pine mesophyll cell packing is not easily inferred from a cross
section. Your slide may show densely packed mesophyll between the epidermal layers and the
endodermis, but it may show instead many air spaces and few cells. The difference from one cross
section to another results from bands of closely and loosely packed cells alternating along the length
of the leaf. The pine mesophyll cells themselves have distinctive lobing and are likely to stain darkly
because of high resin content in a prepared slide. Such resin concentrations probably help increase
freezing resistance. A last distinctive feature of the pine leaf mesophyll is the presence of resin canals
essentially identical to those found in the wood and bark.

In santan and corn leaves, vascular bundles range from very large, like the midrib, to a cylinder of just
a few cells near the end of a small vein. Look for that variation in your slides. Between the
parallel veins of a monocot leaf are perpendicular small cross veins called commissural veins.
Several smaller parallel veins typically occur between pairs of main veins. In many grasses, including
the corn you are observing, these smaller vascular bundles have a cellular arrangement called Kranz
(German for “wreath”) anatomy. Kranz anatomy has evolved independently in many monocots and
some dicots and allows C4 photosynthesis, an especially efficient kind of photosynthesis covered
later in the course. The special bundle sheath of small corn veins can be observed.

Overall, a pine needle has a greater proportion of thick-walled cells than a lilac leaf or corn leaf and
is less likely to show conspicuous wilting even if it loses a lot of water. In lilac and corn leaves, the
stomates, with their paired guard cells, are right on the surface. In pines, each stomate is recessed
into the leaf surface, producing what are referred to as sunken stomates. Sunken stomates tend to
reduce water loss, because each water vapor molecule must follow a longer path to escape the leaf.
The price paid is in slower carbon dioxide uptake, also because of the longer diffusion path.

Modified Leaves
Lab Work 3.
1. Examine very closely the specimens. Identify the different modifications or specialization in each.
 2. Complete the table below.

Table 3. Specialization or modification in leaves.

Specimen Leaf modification Specialized function
1.
2.
3.

QUESTIONS
1. What is a ligule? Where is it found in your specimen? Do you find it in both monocot and dicot
leaves? Any taxonomic value?
2. Do you find compound leaves only in dicots? Why?
3. Is there a significance of compound leaves relative to strong winds? How about to leaf-eating
animals? Justify your answer.

References:
Balangcod T.D. and Buot I.E. Jr. (2011). Plant Taxonomy: A Laboratory Manual (A Revised
Edition). Philippine Society for the Study of Nature. 109 pp.
Laboratory 7. Leaf Anatomy (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www4.uwsp.edu/biology/courses/botlab/130%20lab%20manual/.../m07leaf.doc