Diversity in the Living World
Leaf veins
Look closely at the thin lines on a leaf and find their two patterns.
Hold a leaf up to the light and look closely. You will see thin lines on it. These lines are called veins. The pattern the veins make on a leaf is called venation.
Leaves do not all have the same pattern. In some leaves the veins make a net on both sides of a thick middle vein. This net-like pattern is called reticulate venation. Hibiscus (gudhal) leaves have it. So do the leaves of peepal, neem and mango.
In other leaves the veins run side by side, parallel to each other, like the lines in a notebook. This is called parallel venation. Banana leaves and grasses have it. Next time you eat idli on a banana leaf, look at the straight lines running across it.
So venation gives us one more way to group plants: reticulate (a net) or parallel (side by side).
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