compound leaf

American  

noun

1. a leaf composed of a number of leaflets on a common stalk, arranged either palmately, as the fingers of a hand, or pinnately, as the leaflets of a fern; the leaflets themselves may be compound.

---

compound leaf British  

noun

1. a leaf consisting of two or more leaflets borne on the same leafstalk

---

compound leaf Scientific  

1. A leaf that is composed of two or more leaflets on a common stalk. Clover, roses, sumac, and walnut trees have compound leaves.

---

Etymology

Origin of compound leaf

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

How does a compound leaf give a selective advantage to avoid herbivory?

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

In a compound leaf, the leaf blade is completely divided, forming leaflets, as in the locust tree.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

Occasionally, the leaflets of a compound leaf have been observed united by their margins, as in the strawberry, the white trefoil, and others.

From Vegetable Teratology An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants by Masters, Maxwell T.

Either sort of compound leaf may have any number of leaflets; yet palmate leaves cannot well have a great many, since they are all crowded together on the end of the main leaf-stalk.

From The Elements of Botany For Beginners and For Schools by Gray, Asa

Bifoliolate, a compound leaf of two leaflets, 59.

From The Elements of Botany For Beginners and For Schools by Gray, Asa