Oval Leaf Identification

Examine the oval-shaped leaf to see whether it is hard and leathery or soft and flexible. The former properties usually are present on leafy evergreen trees such as the Southern magnolia and live oak, while the latter case is quite prevalent in many types of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants. In the United States flowering evergreen trees and shrubs are quite common in the hotter regions like Southern California chaparral forest and the Gulf Coast swamps.

Look at the leaf to see if the veins are parallel or if they meet in a palmate or net-like pattern. This step simply divides the plant into one of two large groupings of plants. Monocots (grasses, orchids, palms and lilies) have parallel veins, and everything else falls into the dicot category. Just about all trees are dicot in nature, but actual species identification from this step is difficult.

Find the point of attachment of the soft petiole of the leaf to the woody twig or branch and determine whether the arrangement is alternate, opposite or whorled. For oval-shaped leaves on woody plants, opposite and alternate attachment are most common, and whorled leaf attachments are present in many herbaceous plants.

Notice whether the leaf is attached in a simple, compound or pinnately compound manner. For example the clump of six leaves in the photograph is considered a compound leaf because all five leaves join the woody twig at the same point. Check Reference 2 for explicit examples of each type.

Examine the exterior edge of the leaf or leaf margin to see if it is smooth, toothed, serrated, dentate, lobed or double-toothed. For visual examples see the diagrams in Reference 4 under leaf margin.

Identify the overall outline or shape of the leaf. An oval leaf can be broken down into whether it is linear, oval, ovate, oblong, obovate, deltoid, cordate, elliptical or lanceolate. All of these shapes can be considered variations of the oval leaf and are clearly displayed in Reference 4.

Combine all the above steps to see if you can identify the plant. Trees will be easier to identify than annual herbs, but at the very least the type of plant can often be narrowed down to a few families of plants from looking at an oval-shaped leaf.