leaf gap

{{short description|Anatomical structure in plants}}

File:Coleus stemtip L.jpg

A leaf gap is a space in the stem of a plant through which the leaf grows. The leaf is connected to the stem by the leaf trace, which grows through the leaf gap.

The leaf gap is a break in the vascular tissue of a stem above the point of attachment of a leaf trace.answers.com It exists in the nodal region of the stem as a "gap in the continuity of the primary vascular cylinder above the level where a leaf trace diverges toward a leaf. This gap is filled with parenchyma tissue".{{cite book| title=A Dictionary of Botany | url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofbota00litt | url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofbota00litt/page/200 200]| editor1-last=Little | editor1-first=R. John | editor2-last=Jones |editor2-first=C. Eugene | publisher= Van Nostrand Reinhold Company| location=New York | year=1980 |ISBN=0-442-24169-0}}