Botanical Words Alphabetical List - LE LEACH: To wash or drain
by trickling water through; to treat by downward drainage, as
rain washing away nutrients from the soil. LEACHING: The process
of losing nutrients or salts from the soil through percolation
or treating by downward drainage. LEADER: The main or terminal
shoot of a plant, such as the topmost point of a fir or larch
tree or the strongest shoot of a young fruit tree. LEAF: These
grow along the sides of branches or stems or at the bases of the
plants. Most are green and contain chlorophyll, though they vary
in their shapes and sizes. They are the part of the plant that
ordinarily performs photosynthesis, the process that converts
sunlight and carbon dioxide into energy. It is common for leaves
to grow, fall off, and be replaced. Plants entering dormancy may
lose all their leaves. Maples, for example, drop their leaves in
autumn and replace them in the spring and summer. LEAFBUD: A bud
producing a stem and leaf, unlike a flowerbud, which contains a
blos