- Carbon dioxide:
- a gas that a leaf needs so it can do photosynthesis
Context: Leaves use the carbon dioxide we exhale to do photosynthesis. - Chlorophyll:
- the pigment that makes leaves green
Context: Leaves cannot do photosynthesis without chlorophyll. - Compost:
- a mixture of rotting leaves and other plant stuff
Context: Create a compost pile and you’re helping nature make more dirt! - Deciduous:
- plants that lose their leaves in the winter
Context: Deciduous cottonwood trees like to grow near the Canadian River in the Panhandle of Texas. - Decompose:
- when things get rotten
Context: When leaves decompose, they add stuff to the soil that helps new plants grow better. - Epidermis:
- a see-through skin that protects the leaf and helps it breathe
Context: The leaves of many desert plants have a thick epidermis so they don’t lose too much water. - Evergreen:
- plants that do not lose their leaves in the winter
Context: In west Texas, the alligator juniper tree is an evergreen. - Glucose:
- a sugary food that the plant either uses right away or stores for later
Context: When plants do photosynthesis they make glucose. - Mesophyll:
- the part of the leaf where sunlight (energy) gets changed into food
Context: "M" stands for "mesophyll" and "middle" because the mesophyll is in the middle of the leaf! - Oxygen:
- a gas all animals need to breathe
Context: Plants make oxygen, which helps us because that’s what we breathe! - Photosynthesis:
- what leaves do to change sunlight (energy) into food
Context: To do photosynthesis, leaves must have some green chlorophyll. - Pigment:
- what gives leaves their colors
Context: Pigments give leaves those beautiful red, yellow, and orange fall colors!
Copyright 2010, Jeff Parker
- Vein:
- tubes that carry food and water inside leaves
Context: Check out the big vein that goes right down the middle of a sycamore leaf!