Body of Abstract: Leaf morphology, characterized by simple and compound structures, showcases remarkable diversity in land plants. In angiosperms, the plant group where leaf evolution occurs once, the genetic underpinnings of early leaf development are thought to be similar across species. Compound leaf evolution has occurred multiple times in angiosperms, however, it is not well understood whether the mechanisms are similar. To address this question, we utilized comparative transcriptomics, unsupervised clustering, and orthology information on four developmental stages and two regions across four compound-leaf species (Medicago truncatula, Cardamine hirsuta, Solanum pennellii, Daucus Carota). Unsupervised clustering of collected transcriptome profiles identified two major clusters in each species: “morphogenesis” cluster with decreasing expression enriched with cell cycle and developmental Gene Ontology (GO) terms, and a “differentiation” cluster with increasing expression enriched with photosynthesis and metabolism GO terms. Both clusters showed considerable ortholog overlap. Further analysis included literature-curated genes (LC genes) known to regulate leaf and shoot apical meristem (SAM) development in Arabidopsis thaliana. LC genes were significantly enriched in the “morphogenesis” clusters. This foundational data will guide the exploration of potential functional modules using the weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and gene regulatory networks using the GENIE3 algorithm. Our findings will contribute to the understanding of the genetic regulation of leaf morphological diversity.