For example, whether to call leaves on the same tree "acuminate", "lanceolate", or "linear" could depend on individual judgement, or which part of the tree one collected them from. The same cautions might apply to "caudate", "cuspidate", and "mucronate", or to "crenate", "dentate", and "serrate".

One of the key elements for identifying plants is leaf structure. The following page is designed to develop your plant identification skills, primarily by providing high quality images that illustrate leaf morphology.

Biennial plants usually form a basal rosette of leaves in the first year and then flower and fruit in the second year. bifid Forked; cut in two for about half its length. Compare trifid. bifoliate (of a compound leaf) Having precisely two leaflet s, usually in a symmetrical pair, e.g. a leaf of Colophospermum mopane.

Basal leaf arrangements When basal leaves are arranged in a whorl, it is called a rosette. Dandelion leaves are an example of rosette growth. Whorled leaves growing higher on a stem, in contrast, are said to be cauline.