What is adaxial?

  • (adj): Nearest to or facing toward the axis of an organ or organism.
    Example: "The upper side of a leaf is known as the adaxial surface"
    Synonyms: ventral

Some articles on adaxial:

Plant Evolutionary Developmental Biology - Evolution of Plant Morphology - Evolution of Leaves - Genetic Evidences For Leaf Evolution
... growth are defined, one important (and more studied) among them being the abaxial-adaxial (lower-upper surface) axes ... family have been implicated in defining the adaxial identity ... proteins deviate some cells in the leaf primordium from the default abaxial state, and make them adaxial ...