At 11:23 AM 11/20/95 -0800, David Haas wrote:
>A botany student of mine came up with an interesting observation
>this AM. As he was raking leaves over the week end (mostly pecan) he noticed
>that the leaflets appeared to have abscissed in a manner
>similar to the petiole. It seems that I also made the same
>observation years ago but never gave it much thought. Now after
>thinking about it I am wondering if this happens in all or most
>compound leaves. Are there any trees where the leaflets fall before
>the leaves? Have any of you noticed this? Comments
Dave,
I have noticed this also in walnut, sumac, locust, and several other
truly compound leaved tree species. I think it more the rule
than the exception based on my limited (temperate zone) observations.
I haven't noticed if this holds for some of the "herbs" that
have less-than-truly-compound leaves...such as tomato. In some
of these, I think the leaf looks compound but is really a lobed
simple leaf and lacks abscission zones for at least some of the
lobes. Thus there could be "exceptions" to the rule you have
discovered.
Sounds real equivocal, no?
ross
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\ Ross Koning \
\ Biology Department \
\ Eastern CT State University \
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