Leaf Spelling Dictionary

Margins and veins

The edge of a leaf and the veins inside it are what a key asks about first. The words for them are Latin participles, and each one hides a consonant that says something other than its letter.

Edge and vein

  • laciniate

    luh-SIN-ee-ut/Cut into deep, narrow, irregular lobes, as though the edge had been slashed rather than toothed. The individual strips are called laciniae.

    9 heard spellings on file

  • emarginate

    ee-MAR-jin-ut/Notched at the tip, as though a small bite had been taken out of the end of the blade. Common in clovers and in many woodland herbs.

    11 heard spellings on file

  • reticulate

    ri-TIK-yuu-lut/Net-veined. The veins branch and then rejoin, so the blade is covered in closed meshes rather than in lines running to the edge. Almost all broadleaved trees are reticulate.

    11 heard spellings on file

Reticulate covers the net of veins in the blade. It is the one word here you will also meet outside botany, in anatomy and in pottery.