Leaf Identification Types

Simple Leaf Identification

A simple leaf is simply a single blade attached directly to the stem of the plant. Simple leaves are either broad or needle-like: Broad simple leaves can be lobed or unlobed, rounded, pointed, oblong or some combination of these characteristics. Broad simple leaves can also be smooth or toothed along the edges. Needle-like simple leaves are linear and narrow and not lobed. They may be pointed at the tip with a sharp end or blunt at the tip with a rounded end.

Lobed Leaves

Leaf Identification Types: Lobed Leaves

Lobes are projections on leaves. They can be small or large, along the edge of the leaf or in the center of the leaf, even or uneven, and attached to the base of the leaf or separated by a short stem.

Compound Leaf Identification

Compound leaves are made up of multiple leaflets, look down the stem of the leaf and if there are branches with leaves coming off, you have a compound leaf. Compound leaves can be arranged in several ways: palmate (like a hand), pinnate (feathery) or bipinnate (twice feathery).

The leaflets can be confused with simple leaves, so an odd number of leaflets is a good indication that it’s a compound leaf. The leaflets can also be stalked or sessile. Stalked means that it has a tiny stalk and sessile means that the leaflet is directly connected to the branch.

Feather Shaped

Feather Leaves

Are your leaves long and skinny with even sides on either side of the stem? They are called feather-shaped leaves. Feather shaped leaves can be lobed or smooth on the edges.

The following trees have feather shaped leaves:

• Birch tree (see image)
• Pecan tree (see image)
• Eastern Cottonwood tree

Mitten Shaped

Mitten shaped leaves are shaped like a mitten.

• Mitten shaped leaves are more common than you might think.
• The sugar maple leaf is an example of a mitten shaped leaf. This leaf shape is found on the

Spade Shaped

Spade shaped leaves are considered a teardrop shape. These leaves are wider at the base and tapered to a point at the tip. They kind of look like a spade from an old fashioned deck of playing cards, which is where they get their name.


Some trees that have spade shaped leaves include: American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), black haw (Viburnum prunifolium), box elder (Acer negundo), dogwood (Cornus florida), ginkgoes (Ginkgo biloba), maples (Acer spp.), oaks (Quercus spp.), persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), redbud trees or Judas tree or albizia or silk tree or pink siris, silver maple, sweet gum, tuliptree, willow oak and zelkova

Heart Shaped

Heart-shaped leaves

These are easy to identify, as the leaf does indeed look like a heart. You know what it looks like. Just picture that shape in your head and you’ve got it. The basic explanation for this type of leaf is that there’s a narrowing point at the base of the leaf, forming the distinctive heart shape.

This type of leaf can be found on a variety of different bushes and trees, including:

• Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)
• Horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum)
• Common hop (Humulus Lupulus)
• American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)

Bean/Seed/Square Shaped

• Bean-shaped (or oblong) leaves are elongated, oval and flat. This shape is fairly common. A few examples are the ash tree, which has pinnate compound leaves that resemble fishtails; box elder trees, which have opposite bean shaped leaves; and catalpa trees, which have large green bean shaped leaves that taper at one end.
• Seed- or teardrop-shaped leaves are long with a rounded middle section that tapers to a point at both ends. The red maple has seed-shaped deciduous leaves with long tapered ends and red veins; the black oak has seed shaped green deciduous leaves with white underbellies; and the Japanese aralia bush has shiny green seed shaped deciduous leaves.
• Square-shaped (or rhombic) leaves are rare in nature because they do not grow well in windy conditions. Some plants have square stems but rounded leaves, such as the common elderberry shrub and mulberry tree. However, whereas most plants do not have square-shaped foliage, there are others whose foliage looks like it was cut from paper using a pair of scissors.

Recognizing a leaf’s shape helps you identify the tree it came from.

The first thing to notice about the shape of a leaf is whether it’s simple or compound. Compound means that it has many leaflets that are grouped together on a single stem. Even if you’ve never been able to identify a tree before, you’ve probably seen leaves like that. Think of an umbrella, and how an umbrella is just one big leaf with lots of smaller leaflets grouped around it:


You can use this knowledge to help narrow down your search for the right species of tree just by looking at the leaves’ structure.