left arrow, left-pointing arrow, or leftwards arrow? [closed]

In the context of a figure caption referencing a left-pointing arrow in the figure in the following parenthetical way:

Fig. 1 | ... Here I describe some process (left arrow). ...

A colleague suggested "left arrow" should be replaced with "left-pointing arrow?"

After a bit of research online, I seem to see all three versions in use, with "left arrow" being most popular, though in the Chicago Manual of Style, I see the use of "left-pointing arrow" in a different context.

While "left-pointing arrow" is certainly not wrong, is it just as correct and accepted use to say "left arrow"? Or would this be considered more colloquial? (There is also the option of "leftwards arrow").

'Left arrow' could be ambiguous. See the diagram below. Which is the left arrow? A or B?

To completely avoid ambiguity, you can describe Arrow A as "a right-pointing arrow on the left side of the diagram", and Arrow B is "a left-pointing arrow on the right side of the diagram". If that seems a little too long, "left-pointing arrow" is also perfectly acceptable for Arrow B (and vice versa).

For what it’s worth (not very much, I imagine) the Unicode description is:

Leftwards Arrow

In that entry you will find “left arrow” as the “old name”, so perhaps they have addressed the problem and their description is actually worth considering.