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Once you can identify Poison Ivy and Poison Oak well enough to stay away from them (their compound leaves look like the one shown below), here are some questions to think about: Why do plants have leaves? Are there leafless plants?

How can you decide whether something is a leaf or not? What are some of the tricky things that normal backyard leaves do? What's the difference between monocot & dicot leaves? Why do leaves change colors in the fall? Why do leaves fall in the fall? What are the veins doing?