Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants - Online edition


Click/tap on images to enlarge
S40 alternate
S41 opposite
S42 forming part of a whorl

Tenth leaf arrangement

These features refer to the tenth leaf stage. The tenth leaf is the tenth true leaf produced after the cotyledons. On seedlings with alternate or spirally arranged leaves it is just simply the tenth leaf produced.  On seedlings with opposite leaves it is one of the leaves in the fifth pair of true leaves produced.  On seedlings with whorled leaves it will be one of the leaves in the appropriate whorl; e.g. if there are four leaves in each whorl then the tenth leaf will be one of the leaves in the third whorl.

This is the positioning of the leaves on the stem.  In the case of compound leaves, this refers to the leaves themselves, not the individual leaflets.

Copyright © CSIRO 2020, all rights reserved.