I bet you can find more than 13 different types of leaf
Even in winter
We were watching an episode of New Zealand Taskmaster this week, where the task was ‘Make a bet with Paul, then win it’. Dai Henwood bet Paul Williams that he could not find 13 different types of leaf in 15 minutes. I started shouting at the screen as if I was watching the World Cup Final. Of course this was a stupid bet. Surely Paul could find more than 13 different types of leaf. The Taskmasker NZ house sits on some pretty large, very green grounds. EASY.
I ranted at KP about humans’ disconnection with nature and was reminded of the image below (or similar)1, which gets banded around the internet occasionally, alongside the fact that a study2 found 69% of all three-year-olds could identify the McDonald's golden arches, while half of all four-year-olds did not know their own name. I’m pretty sure none of the children in the study were asked to identify which trees these leaves came from, but I’d be interested to know how many they got right. In fact, I’d be interested to know how many of these leaves my adult friends could name. I think I’d have struggled myself just a couple of years ago… and I still stumble over at least one of these!
Anyway, you’ll be pleased to hear that Paul Williams came through, and collected over 40 different types of leaf. Dai received 2 points, despite the fact he either misunderstood the task, or has absolutely zero nature knowledge. I went out to see how many leaves I could find.
Your task
So, your task this week is to see how many different types of leaf you can find. By that I mean from different plant or tree species, but you might prefer to look for different leaf shapes from the same plant (ivy is good for this!). For added fun, set a timer of 15 minutes.
Can you name the trees or plants they came from? What would you call this leaf shape? Look up the botanical terms, or make up your own! Take a photo of all your leaves together and label as many as you can. Have fun!
Valentine’s Day fact:
Heart-shaped leaves are called cordate leaves. ‘Cor’ means heart in Latin!
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I’m pretty sure this is taken from a 2001 study by the International Journal of Advertising and Marketing to Children. It’s quoted in this 2005 Guardian article. I don’t know if it’s still true, or how representative this study is!
I remember at school in the 1970s been given a task to identify as many corporate logos as possible on a quiz sheet. We never got the same task for flowers or leaf shapes. I think I could identify more corporate logos than anyone else in the class and I was also probably the only one who could identify more than a couple of leaf shapes or flowers.
Nice!
The comparison with the logos is disturbing indeed. I guess the trees have to make more of an effort to sell us their stuff - more colours, more glitter etc.! I can imagine an art project where each leaf of a tree is painted with some shiny logo.