Video:What Are Trees With Simple Leaves?

Transcript:What Are Trees With Simple Leaves?

Hi, I'm Meghan Field, an air quality specialist in California with a background in forestry and natural resources. I'm here today for About.com to answer the question: What are trees with simple leaves?

Identifying Simple Leaves

Leaves are often a distinctive identifying feature of trees, but they can be confusing and hard to classify, as many trees share leaves of similar shape. Fortunately, simple leaves are quite easy to identify and can be found on a wide array of trees. Trees with simple leaves are far more common than those with compound leaves. A simple leaf is a leaf that's not divided into parts, but rather has one leaflet per leaf stem.

Trees With Simple Leaves

They can be many shapes and can also be lobed, but the gaps between the lobes of the leaf will never reach the main center of the vein. The blades of simple leaves are also attached directly to the stalk or petiole. Conversely, if you've got a leaf stem with two or more leaves attached to it, it's a compound leaf. Oaks, willows, quaking aspens, sassafras, maples, and sycamores are just a few of the trees with simple leaves; and of these, the leaves of oaks, sassafras, maples, and sycamores would qualify as simple lobed leaves.

Different Types of Simple Leaves

While each of the aforementioned trees have simple leaves, each leaf varies by tree in overall appearance, shape, and texture. For example, both of these are simple leaves, but look how different they are from each other. This one here is from a liquid amber tree, and this one is off of a willow. The great thing about simple leaves is that they're simple! If you have a single leaf per leaf stem, then it's a simple leaf you've come across. Now you just have to figure out which tree it fell from.

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