Let's continue our overview of some botanical basics.
Last time I talked about leaf venation and this time I'm going to talk a little about leaf arrangement.
Alternate: this is when you see a leaf on the left side of a stem, then a little bit up there's a leaf on the right side of the stem.
Opposite: this arrangement has leaves growing out of both sides of the stem at the same place on the stem.
A Sub arrangement of both is called Alternate Opposite: this is a popular arrangement in the mint family. You'll notice that the leaves are opposite, but every other one the little opposite bundle will be going the opposite direction (see photo)
The last one I want to introduce is whorled. In this arrangement you'll see leaves arranged in a circular pattern around the stem, cleavers is a perfect example of a whorled arrangement.