Key to the Woody Plants of Wildwood Park Based on Their Leaves
Trees with Broad Leaves
Step 3. Are the leaves simple or compound?
Compound leaves are composed of smaller leaflets attached to a center stalk called the rachis. Beginners often have trouble telling a compound leaf from many simple leaves attached to a twig. Here are some clues to tell them apart.
Compound leaves are flat, all of the leafletes coming off the rachis in the same plane; simple leaves often come off the twig at different angles.
The rachis of a compound leaf is generally green. Simple leaves attach to twigs, which may be green when young but have bark and are dark colored when older.
If there are buds (late summer to fall) there will be a bud at the base of each leaf stalk of both simple and compound leaves, but not at the base of the stalk of a leaflet.
In the autumn, the leaflets and the rachis of compound leaves all fall separately (unless the plant is evergreen). Twigs do not fall in the autumn.
