Loving Leaves Me Happy

Leaves are magnificent.



They are striking, they smell fantastic & they even feel great in your hands. Leaves go through several stages in their life & during all of these; they manage to hold on to their fascinating allure. Who doesn’t love to crunch a decomposing brown leaf in their fingers?


The few pictures I took & scattered about here, are only some that I enjoy on a daily basis & in actuality, they are not all leaves. Actually, one is a pine cone, simply because…I like those too. I have to assume everyone does.
At this point, I would like to offer an opportunity. If you feel that I am not normal, you are almost certainly correct. Feel free to exit to the right…no pushing please, single file.


Alright! For those courageous souls who are still with me…let’s begin with some leaf morphology, shall we?
Really, I couldn’t care any less about the whole photosynthesis thing, although I am well versed in the process. However, the appearance, texture & aroma of leaves, that is what floats my boat! (Please remember, you may exit at any time…to the right.)


The basic leaf parts are: Blade~the expanded portion, Petiole~the stalk which connects the blade and stem & Stipules~arms at the beginning of the stem. Mesmerizing, I know!!
Leaves can have a single blade & be classified as simple. They are considered compound, if they have more then one leaf on a stipule; these are called leaflets (I love that word…btw). Palmate leaves look kind of like the fingers of a hand, pinnate leaves look like a feather & trifoliolate leaves look like a clover (clover is awesome). If a compound leaf is divided twice, it is considered to be “twice-compound.” Nice, huh?

If you are still reading, then you must agree with me or you simply have no life.


Leaves can be attached directly to the stem, which is called, sessile or by a petiole, and therefore called, petiolate. The latter is my personal favorite, but that’s not really important.

The way a leaf is arranged is equally neat. They can grow opposite at each node, alternately along the stem or a bunch from one node. The last one I mentioned is called, “whorled”…more thrilling details!!


The shapes are totally attractive, each in their own special way too. There’s linear, meaning narrow, elliptic is oval shaped, ovate starts out wide & then narrows & my personal love is cordate, meaning heart-shaped…awww!


The edges must be discussed, of course. There is smooth or entire, serrate, being finely toothed & lobed, which has a deeper indentation.


One of the very endearing things about leaves are the veins. Veins that start at the base & remain parallel until the top of the leaf are nice. There are palmate, which look like the fingers of a hand & also start at the base before spreading out. The really beautiful leaves have this kind of network system of veins with all these different connections & are labeled, pinnate.


Since there are more then 25 classes of leaf surfaces…gonna skip that…blah. That’s where the beauty of *feeling* the leaf comes in. Each one has its own unique texture & beauty.



I'm very boring & I know it.



I love leaves :)

And pine cones & incidentally...sticks too, but I wasn't planning to mention that.