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 34 not a compound leaf DHJanzen100345.jpg high resolution
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| Leaf patterns are not always what they appear to be. This looks like a branch with compound leaves, the same kind of small leaflets you know from the ant-acacia (and the ancester of the Mimosa albida in DHJanzen100344.jpg above). However in this case the seemingly compound leaf is in fact a thin branch with many tiny leaves. These evergreen leaves are on their way to being evolutionarily reduced and thickened (and made much more desiccation resistant) into what you think of as conifer needles (pine needles, fir needles, spruce needles, etc. and see DHJanzen100346.jpg below). This Venezuelan species of Podocarpaceae (a gymnosperm) has leaves like those of the ancestors of todays modern pines, firs, spruces, etc. | ||
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