The Very Important Leaves

Leaves are the factories of the plant. Inside them is where the plant makes its food. This food is usually a type of sugar called glucose. Leaves make this food in a process called photosynthesis.

To make this food the leaf uses carbon dioxide gas from the air, water from the soil and light from the sun. Leaves are designed to "catch" sunlight and having lots of flat leaves means the plant can "catch" the most sunlight. The other important ingredient in making this sugar is green colored chlorophyll. Chlorophyl is the reason that most leaves are colored green.

As the plant uses the carbon dioxide from the air this carbon dioxide is changed into oxygen. This oxygen is then respired or sent out of the leaf through some very tiny holes in the leaves called stomata. We animals should be pleased that plants put oxygen back into the air because we need this oxygen to keep us alive.

As well as letting these gases in and out of the leaf, the stomata also let water leave the plant. This is called transpiration and it is important because when this water leaves the plant it helps draw, or suck more water up through the plant.

Most leaves also have veins in them that help move water from the stem around the leaf. To help protect themselves, leaves also have a waxy coating called the cuticle.