Trifoliate
/try-FOH-lee-ayt/🍃 Leaf Shapes●● Intermediate
Also known as: three-leaved, ternate
A compound leaf consisting of exactly three leaflets. Trifoliate leaves are characteristic of many familiar plants including clover, poison ivy, strawberry, and beans. The arrangement can be pinnately trifoliate (terminal leaflet on a short stalk) or palmately trifoliate (all three leaflets arising from a single point). The old saying "leaves of three, let it be" refers to poison ivy's trifoliate leaves.
Etymology
Latin tri (three) + foliatus (leafy), from folium (leaf)
Example
“Poison ivy is easily identified by its trifoliate leaves — always three leaflets per leaf.”