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Petiole (botany)
Stalk holding a leaf to its stem / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, see Petiole (insect anatomy).
In botany, the petiole (/ˈpiːti.oʊl/) is the stalk that attaches the leaf blade to the stem.[1]: 87 [2]: 171 It is able to twist the leaf to face the sun, producing a characteristic foliage arrangement (spacing of blades), and also optimizing its exposure to sunlight.[3][4] Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole in some species are called stipules. The terms petiolate and apetiolate are applied respectively to leaves with and without petioles.
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