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A leaf (plural leaves) is a dorsiventrally flattened organ of a vascular plant and is the main lateral appendage of the stem, usually borne above the ground and specializes in photosynthesis. Leaves and stem together form the shoot. Leaves are called foliage together, as in “autumn foliage.”

In most leaves, the primary photosynthetic tissue, palisade mesophyll, is located in the upper part of the blade or leaf blade, but in some species, including the mass of a mature eucalyptus leaf, palisade mesophyll is present on both sides, and the leaves are said to be isobilateral. Most leaves have a pronounced upper (adaxial) and lower (abaxial) surface, which differ in color, hairiness, number of stomata (pores entering and releasing gases), quantity and structure of epicuticular wax, and other characteristics. The leaves are mostly green in color.

This is due to the presence of a compound called chlorophyll. This compound is necessary for photosynthesis because it absorbs light from the sun. A leaf with white spots or edges is called spotted.

Leaves can have many different shapes, sizes and textures. Broad, flat leaves with complex veins of flowering plants are known as megaphiles, and the species that carry them are, for the most part, leafy or megafilic plants. In clubs of various evolutionary origin, leaves are simple (with only one vein) and are known as microphiles.

Some leaves, such as bulb scales, are not above the ground. In many aquatic species, leaves are immersed in water. Succulent plants often have dense succulent leaves, but some leaves lack a basic photosynthetic function, and they can die when ripe, like some cataphylls and spines.

In addition, several types of leaf structures found in vascular plants are not completely homologous to them. Examples include flattened stems of plants called phyllodes and feces, and flattened stems of leaves called filody, which differ from the leaves in both structure and origin. Some non-vascular plant structures look and function like leaves. Examples include the phyllids of mosses and liverworts.

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