In botany, a flattened or leaf-like branch that resembles and functions as a leaf, such as the flattened stems of asparagus or certain cacti.
From Greek klados 'branch' + phyllon 'leaf'. A cladophyll is literally a 'branch-leaf'—the term describes a structure that is botanically a branch but looks and acts like a leaf.
Evolution is so clever—plants that lost their true leaves reinvented branches that do the same job, which is why asparagus ferns have those delicate green tufts instead of actual leaves.
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