Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index In biology, pinnate is a term used to describe feather-like or many-divided features arise from both sides of a common axis in plants or animals. From the french word pinna (feather), the word is in many cases synonymous with the term pectinate. Botanically, the term describes once-divided leaves comprising leaflets that are arranged on both sides of a petiole, a feature displayed by many palmss (notable the feather palms) and most cycads. Pinnate plants are sometimes known as "feather-leaved". Some species of fern also sport pinnate fronds, although others can be bipinnate, tripinnate or simple. The leaflets that comprise a pinnate (or bipannate) leaf are known as pinnae or pinnules. See also: paripinnate, imparipinnate, bipinnate, tripinnate, palmate, costapalmate, simple The fish Platax pinnatus is known as the pinnate spadefish or pinnate batfish. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.