Leaves () () is one of the four playing card suits in a deck of German-suited playing cards. This suit was invented in 15th century Germany and is a survivor from a large pool of experimental suit signs created to replace the Latin suits. Around 1480, French card makers adapted this sign into Spades in the French pack (known as pikes in France). As its name suggests, the leaf is represented by a stylized green

leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leav ...

. The left half is lighter than the right half; it can sometimes be yellow.

Veins Veins () are blood vessels in the circulatory system of humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are those of the pulmonary and fetal c ...

are visible and there is usually a petiole. There may also be smaller leaves. The standard German-suited system of leaves, acorns, hearts, and bells appears in the majority of cards from 1460 onwards. There is no evidence for this system prior to this point.

Names

They are usually known in German as ("foliage"), but also as ("grass"), ("leaf") or ' ("green"). Cards are referred to as in a French pack e.g. the "King of Leaves", but in German as or i.e. "Leaf King". It is the second-highest suit in the games of Skat,

Schafkopf Schafkopf (, lit. 'sheep's head'), also called Bavarian Schafkopf, is a popular German Trick-taking game, trick-taking card game of the ace–ten family for four players that evolved, towards the end of the 19th century, from German Schafkopf. ...

and

Doppelkopf Doppelkopf (, lit. ''double-head''), sometimes abbreviated to Doko, is a trick-taking game, trick-taking card game for four players. In Germany, Doppelkopf is nearly as popular as Skat (card game), Skat, especially in Northern Germany and the R ...

, and the second lowest in

Préférence Préférence, frequently spelt Preference, is a Central Europe, Central and Eastern European 10-card plain-trick game with bidding (cards), bidding, played by three players with a 32-card Piquet deck, and probably originating in early 19th centur ...

Gallery

Today the suit of leaves is still produced as part of the following patterns: Bavarian (Types M and S), Bohemian, East German, Franconian, Saxonian and William Tell. The gallery below shows a suit of Leaves from a German-suited playing cards of 32 cards. The pack is of the Saxonian pattern: File:Saxonian Deck - Leaves - 07.jpg , 7 File:Saxonian Deck - Leaves - 08.jpg , 8 File:Saxonian Deck - Leaves - 09.jpg , 9 File:Saxonian Deck - Leaves - 10.jpg, 10 File:Saxonian Deck - Leaves - Unter.jpg , Unter File:Saxonian Deck - Leaves - Ober.jpg ,

Ober Ober may refer to: * Ober (playing card), court card in the German and Swiss styles of playing cards * Ober, Indiana, an unincorporated community in Washington Township, Starke County * Oberek (also ''ober''), a lively Polish dance in triple metre ...

File:Saxonian Deck - Leaves - King.jpg ,

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

File:Saxonian Deck - Leaves - Deuce.jpg, Deuce

Swiss cards

In Swiss-suited playing cards, the equivalent suit is

Shields A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry like spears or long ranged projectiles suc ...

, typically with the following suit symbol: Bouclier jeu de carte

References

Card suits {{card-game-stub