oblanceolate = lanceolate but broader at the tip, tapering at the base
The above terms all refer to flat leaves...there are leaves that aren't actually flat.
needle leaves are familiar to all who have ever encountered a pine tree (Pinus spp.)
awl-like have little sharp barbs, typical of many junipers (Juniperus spp.). If you've ever spent time under a juniper cutting out dead branches, you know just what these feel like down the back of your neck.
scale-like leaves require close inspection to see the form. On my Chamaecyparis, they're smooth to the touch in one direction, but rough if stroked against the grain, like fish scales.
Edges
entire = an unbroken, smooth edge
serrate = sharp, straight-edge teeth pointing to the tip (apex) of the leaf
doubly-serrate = with additional, smaller secondary teeth
incised = irregularly cut, more or less deeply and sharply
undulate = wavy edges
crenate = scalloped (shallow, rounded teeth)
lobed = cut into irregular teeth.
Simple and Compound
An important structural characteristic is whether a leaf blade is simple or compound.
Simple leaves are just that; plain in shape.
Compound leaves may look like a lot of individual leaves on a stem, but they are really one leaf divided into parts with separate stalks jointed at the point where they meet the main leafstalk.
 
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palmately compound = all leaflets attached at one point on the petiole (leaf stem)
pinnately compound = leaflets attached along the length of the leaf stalk (rachis). This type of leaf is further separated into:
- bipinnate = the rachis branches once
tripinnate = rachis branches twice times
quadripinnate = rachis branches three times
paripinnate = all leaflets more or less paired; no single terminal leaf
imparipinnate = all leaflets more or less paired with a single terminal leaf.
Many pinnately compound leaves look so much like individual leaves on a stem that it's hard to tell what they really are. If they are truly separate leaves, you'll generally - on plants from temperate climates - find a bud at the leaf axil (where the leaf attaches to the stem). If there aren't any buds, you're looking at a true compound leaf.
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