Plants harvest solar energy from sunlight and convert it to chemical energy (e.g. sugar) in a process called photosynthesis. This process occurs in the green parts of plants. Plants are green because they contain a green chemical pigment called chlorophyll, and it is found in microscopic structures called chloroplasts. Photosynthesis occurs in the chloroplasts. Sometimes…
The flat, light-intercepting part of a leaf is called the blade. It may be directly attached to a stem at its base, or, the blade may be attached to the stem by a narrow stalk called a petiole. There is almost always a bud (tiny growing point) found in the angle between the petiole and…
Leaves may also have more than one blade attached to a petiole. The separate, smaller blades are called “leaflets”, and there may just be just a few, or many, depending on the kind of plant. The leaflets are attached to a central stalk called the rachis. How the leaflets are arranged is an important plant…
There are a few more than 3,000 different species of palms, but they typically produce just a few basic patterns of leaves. Two of the most common leaf structures produced by palm trees are the Fan-type/Palmate (Figure 30) and the Feather-type/Pinnate (Figure 31). Another leaf-related characteristic of interest with palms is whether or not they…