Leaf
A
leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, and is the principal appendage of the vascular plant stem. The leaves and stem together form the shoot.
Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves collectively. Typically a leaf is a thin, dorsiventrally flattened organ, borne above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Most leaves have distinctive upper and lower surfaces that differ in colour, hairiness, the number of stomata and other features. The palisade mesophyll almost always occurs on the upper side of the blade or lamina of the leaf but in some species, including the mature foliage of
Eucalyptus palisade occurs on both sides and the leaves are said to be isobilateral. Many types of leaves are adapted in ways almost unrecognisable in those terms: some are not flat, some are not above ground, and some are without major photosynthetic function. Furthermore, several kinds of leaf-like structures found in vascular plants are not totally homologous with them. Examples include phyllodes, cladodes, and phylloclades that differ from leaves in their structure and origin.