The leaf reminds me of a shamrock due to the three leaves protruding out of its petiole. The two leaves attached at the side of the petiole are similar in size. Furthermore, the center most leaf has an upward curve. The top of the leaf has a smooth wet surface. In contrast, the bottom of the leaf had a chalky texture. The leaf colors also vary. The top of the leaf has a darker green color, while the bottom leaf is a lighter green color. The texture and color differences may be due to photosynthesis. The leaf must be adapted to absorb light so the top of the leaf problably has more chlorophyll. I noticed that each leaf has a midrib going through the center. The midrib starts thick near the petiole, but then decreases in thickness as it travels near the apex. The leaf I was given was noticeably veiny. Each leaf had around eight veins coming out from the midrib. The veins themselves had additional veins coming out of them. This reminded me of a blood under a microscope. The leaf had a musky, skunk like smell. It kind of reminded me of back home where we had lots of skunks running around. The unpleasant smell of the leaf might play a role in repelling insects and birds. What was very interesting for me were the quantitative measurements. The total width of the leaf was 7.2cm wide. The total length of the leaf was 7.2cm. I also noticed that the leaf always felt cold. It seems that the leaf does not hold to heat well.
Comments
First Person
For scientific writing, it is best to avoid writing in the first person. For example, the last sentence can be simplied from "I also noticed that the leaf always felt cold" to "the leaf always was cold."
Use active voice
Actually, most scientific writing should use first person & active voice (see Hoffman section 2.3).
really descriptive
I actually disagree with the other commenter. I actually think that it's nice that in such a descriptive paragraph with so many qualitative data, a person is using first-person pronouns. In qualitative research, the data is absolutely detailed, but because they are less replicable and is less objective, by having a first person pronoun confronts the pronoun head-on by implying the author's limit in knowing that the data that was gathered is more personal compared to quantitative data that collected by a team.