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Pinnatifdus

/pin-NAT-ih-fih-dus/
🏷️ Taxonomy●●● Advanced

Also known as: pinnatifda, pinnatifdum

A leaf-shape epithet describing a leaf that is deeply cut in a pinnate (feather-like) pattern but not divided all the way to the midrib into separate leaflets — the lobes remain connected. It is intermediate between a simple toothed leaf and a fully pinnate compound leaf.

Etymology

From Latin pinnatus (feathered, winged) + findere (to split, to cleave), giving "pinnately cleft."

Example

Meconopsis pinnatifida and various Senecio species with deeply pinnate-lobed leaves carry this epithet for their feather-cut foliage that stops just short of being fully compound.

Example Plant

🌿Polypodium pinnatifidum