by Mary Free and Christa Watters, Extension Master Gardeners
In everyday conversation, when a form resembles an egg, we simply describe it as egg-shaped. In botany, when plant parts are egg-shaped, they are described as ovate, obovate, ovoid, and obovoid. Similar shapes are oval, elliptic, and ellipsoid. Can you distinguish among these shapes when describing a leaf blade or fruit?
Did you know that ovate is one of the most common leaf shapes? Of the top 24 keystone and significant woody genera in the Mid-Atlantic Region—those that feed the most lepidopteran larvae—19 include species with ovate leaves and 10 include species that have ovoid fruit.
Learn more here.
