Long‐distance transport in plants requires precise knowledge of vascular pathways, and these pathways differ among species. This study examines the14C translocation pathways in honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthosL.) and green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanicaMarsh.), species with compound leaves, and compares them with those of cottonwood (Populus deltoidesBartr. ex Marsh.), a species with simple leaves. The stem vasculature of honeylocust conforms to a 2/5 helical phyllotaxy and that of green ash to a decussate phyllotaxy. The plastochron is relatively long in both species – 2.5+ days in honeylocust and 4.5+ days in green ash. Consequently, the transition from upward to downward translocation from mature source leaves is abrupt and occurs close to the apex. Export of14C from localized treatment positions within a leaf was found to vary both quantitatively and spatially. To determine export patterns,14CO2was administered to either individual leaflets of once‐pinnate or pinnae of bipinnate leaves of honeylocust, and to either individual veins of simple or leaflets of compound leaves of green ash. Transections of either the petiole or rachis base were then examined for14C by micro‐autoradiography. In all cases, as treatment positions advanced acropetally in the leaves, the bundles translocating14C were situated more dorsally in the basal petiole and rachis vasculatures.14C was confined to the right side of the vasculature when structures on the right side of a leaf were treated. Compound leaves of both species mature acropetally. Thus, mature basal pinnae of honeylocust and basal leaflets of green ash translocate acropetally to younger leaf parts that are still rapidly expanding. All translocation pathways, both in the stem and leaf, conformed with vascular organization previously determined by anatomical a