noun
- a small leaf with a single unbranched vein, characteristic of certain primitive plants
Usage: botanical
Examples
- Club mosses have microphylls rather than the complex leaves of flowering plants.
- The microphyll structure is considered an evolutionary adaptation in early vascular plants.
- Botanists distinguish between microphylls and megaphylls based on vein patterns.
- Each microphyll contains only one vascular bundle.
- The fossil record shows that microphylls appeared before more complex leaf types.
- Lycophytes are characterized by their small microphylls arranged spirally on stems.