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

The suppression of one or more leaflets of a compound leaf has already been referred to at p.

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

I have seen a leaflet low down in the compound leaf of Vicia sativa converted into a tendril, and a tendril possesses many peculiar properties, such as spontaneous movement and irritability.

From The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Volume II (of 2) by Darwin, Charles

A compound leaf bearing leaflets at the end or along the sides of the main axis.

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