Apical organization and the ontogeny of leaves of the ‘Hawkeye’ variety of soybean plants were examined. The initial region of the shoot apex consisted of a corpus and a 2‐layered tunica. Cells of the inner tunica layer were responsible for the initiation and development of leaves and stipules which were not significantly affected by foliar applications of a 50 mg/liter aqueous solution of gibberellic acid (GA). Initiation of leaves and stipules was simultaneous, but the early growth of the latter was more rapid. At the sixth or seventh node, the growth of the leaf primordia surpassed that of the stipules. There was meristematic activity in the stipular primordia to about the fifth node after which growth continued by cell enlargement. Stipels were initiated in the subepidermal layer of cells of the fourth leaf primordium, and development was completed at the eighth or ninth node. Gibberellic acid did not affect the size or shape of the stipels. Chlorosis of leaves and a reduction in size of the leaflets was apparent in GA‐treated plants. Terminal leaflets of treated plants had a slightly thinner lamina, smaller cells in the palisade layer and a greater amount of intercellular space. Increased cell elongation caused an early elongation of the internodes of the treated plants. Reduction of cell diameter resulted in a reduction in diameter of stems in GA‐treated plants. In response to GA, more lignified xylem parenchyma was produced, and partial collapse of relatively thin‐walled vessel elements and tracheids occurred. The extension of axillary shoots of GA‐treated plants was delayed temporarily, but once their extension began, they quickly surpassed the growth of the axillary shoots of untreated plants. Cell elongation was a major factor in the rapid extension of axillary shoots of treated plants. Anthesis was delayed and the number of pods per plant reduced in treated plants grown in long days. Only axillary flowers developed on treated and untreated plants grown in long days; however, the shoot apex of treated and untreated plants became floral in short days. The transition from the vegetative to the reproductive phase was delayed in treated plants.