A simple leaf is described as which of the following?

• A. When the leaf is incised/entire, the incision doesn't reach the midrib
• B. When the incisions of a lamina reach the midrib breaking it into a number of leaflets
• C. Leaflets are attached to a common point at the tip of the petiole
• D. Leaflets are present on a common axis called rachis

Answer: (A)

A simple leaf stays as a single blade even if there are shallow cuts or lobes. The key idea is that the lamina remains undivided into separate leaflets and the midrib stays intact. When the incisions are shallow and do not reach the midrib, the blade is still one unit, so it is described as simple.

If the incisions go all the way to the midrib and break the lamina into distinct leaflets, you no longer have a single blade; you have a compound leaf, where multiple leaflets are arranged either on a common axis (rachis) or at the tip of the petiole in palmately arranged forms. The other options describe that kind of arrangement—leaflets attached at a point or along a rachis—rather than a single, undivided blade.