just how many of these are in there?

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On May 3rd, I started watching a small leaf develop on the twig closest to my window. Back then, there were two pairs of leaves in the cluster (each only about 3/4" long!) and -- something I hadn't noticed before -- also a thin bundle of green in the center.

leaves_grow5_3.jpg

That little bundle in the center has now developed into a new pair of leaves in the cluster.

leaves5_14d.jpg

I wonder how many pairs of leaves are going to be in one cluster. How many leaves can there be in there?!

Let's start at the beginning. Twelve days ago I discovered a new leaf cluster just starting to open. On that day, there were two leaves (each about 1/4" long) and a pair of smaller microleaves. 

leaf_tiny_5_8.jpg

I think these little microleaves are the "wings" I'd noticed stretching out the buds when leaves first started to appear on my tree in April.

leaves4_26compare.jpg

I don't think these have developed into leaves. Maybe they're like the strange leaves that I saw on my son's bean plant that came out first but didn't ever turn into true leaves.

splant_4_3.jpg
bottom right: the lighter, poorly formed "leaves" that appeared first

The book A Seed is Sleepy also showed these strange first leaves on a bean plant at 4 weeks.

bean_development.jpg

I think these are cotyledons, which are sort of embryonic leaves. So, these may be a kind of starter leaf for the plant.

Sure enough, twelve days later, those microleaves haven't developed at all, while the other leaves have almost tripled in length. 

leaves_5_14e.jpg

But look! In the very center there is another little tiny green tongue starting to peek out! Will that be another bundle for another pair of leaves??

When I look at the largest leaf I've been watching, I can see that it is in a cluster with five pairs of leaves.

leaves5_14a2.jpg

When I started watching it, it had three pairs and a small bundle in the center.

lg_leaf_cluster5_2.jpg

Looking really closely at the newest set of leaves, I noticed something else...

leaves5_14c.jpg

They look like little buds right at the spots where the leaf stems branch off of the main shoot.

leafbuds5_14.jpg

OMG, what are they?!

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About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Alison published on May 20, 2011 9:21 AM.

maple keys was the previous entry in this blog.

from seed to maple tree is the next entry in this blog.

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