Meena collects leaves from a garden. A neem leaf has many leaflets on a common axis…
Contributed by StemPy LabTry it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
Meena collects leaves from a garden.
- A neem leaf has many leaflets on a common axis. What kind of leaf is it, and what is the axis called?
- A silk cotton leaf has five leaflets that join at the tip of the petiole. What kind of leaf is it?
- How can Meena tell a leaflet from a leaf?
- Wheat leaves have veins side by side, and china rose leaves have a network of veins. Give the venation of each.
- A plant has two leaves at each node, facing each other. What is this arrangement called?
Need a reminder? The key ideaShow
A leaf has a leaf base, a petiole and a lamina with a midrib and veins. Venation is reticulate (dicots) or parallel (monocots). A simple leaf is cut, if at all, short of the midrib. A compound leaf is cut to the midrib into leaflets, pinnate on a rachis (neem) or palmate from the tip of the petiole (silk cotton). Phyllotaxy is alternate, opposite or whorled. Leaves change for climbing (pea), defence (cactus), storage (onion) and trapping insects (pitcher plant).
The worked solution
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Step 1. (a) A pinnately compound leaf. The axis is the rachis.
Step 2. (b) A palmately compound leaf.
Step 3. (c) A leaf has a bud in the axil of its petiole. A leaflet has no bud in its axil.
Step 4. (d) Wheat has parallel venation. China rose has reticulate venation.
Step 5. (e) Opposite phyllotaxy.
Answer: (a) pinnately compound, rachis; (b) palmately compound; (c) the bud in the axil; (d) parallel; reticulate; (e) opposite.
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