Who says this?

[Treeaddict]

I’ve just learned that some folk call softwood needles, “leaves”. I understand that have the same function as a traditional broadleaf but it seems odd, in my mind, to refer to them as a leaf. Maybe it’s a common thing that I’ve never payed attention to before? What do you left coast guys call em?

 

[flushcut]

Never heard that. But I have a feeling it’s like here, every evergreen is a pine. “I want you to cut down that pine” “ Sure we can cut down your spruce”

 

[Marc-Antoine]

Here, all the conifers are a spruce. LOL
I use leaves for needles quite often. I have the function in mind more than the geometry. Even the needles have quite a variation in shape between the evergreen softwoods: pine, spruce, fir, sequoia, thuya, cypress... The last two don't look at all like a needle,
And in which category you'd put the monkey puzzle?
I prefer the simplification with leaves.

 

[lxskllr]

I've only heard(seen) that in educational stuff. I'm pretty sure I've called them leaves when thinking quick to describe something in the field, and while I can't remember, it might have been something with an ambiguous structure like ERC. I don't think either word is clearly better for its flat scaly /things/.

 

[Kaveman]

Like John, ive only encountered it in educational materials.

Much like how the local cedar berries are technically cones. They're a fleshy pulpy mass surrounding a seed, seems a bit like a berry to me!

 

[Mellow]

Strictly speaking, needles are leaves. They're just a specific subset of the general category of leaves. Purists would probably call them leaves, while most folks just say needles.

 

[Treeaddict]

Here, all the conifers are a spruce. LOL
I use leaves for needles quite often. I have the function in mind more than the geometry. Even the needles have quite a variation in shape between the evergreen softwoods: pine, spruce, fir, sequoia, thuya, cypress... The last two don't look at all like a needle,
And in which category you'd put the monkey puzzle?
I prefer the simplification with leaves.

I understand that logic. Yeah, we have the eastern red cedar and arborvitaes along with other species which have flattened, holey, fan shaped leaves. Like a mix between a traditional leaf and a needle I suppose. The food factories being called leaves between all species makes sense.

 

[SeanKroll]

Foliage