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.

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compound leaf British  

noun

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

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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.

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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

Half across the meadow I now observed that he held a leaf in his outstretched hand, and now I clearly noted that it was a compound leaf, and in another second I knew it all.

From Eye Spy Afield with Nature Among Flowers and Animate Things by Gibson, W. Hamilton (William Hamilton)

With several organs or structures attached at or proceeding from the same point; applied chiefly to the arrangement of principal veins in a leaf and of leaflets in a compound leaf.

From The Plants of Michigan Simple Keys for the Identification of the Native Seed Plants of the State by Gleason, Henry Allan

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