What's the difference between 'foliage' and 'leafage'?

OED defines these words as:

foliage: the leaves (of a plant or tree) collectively; leafage

leafage: leaves collectively; foliage

Both of them seem to mean almost the same.

Google NGram gives the following picture:

So, aside from the fact that leafage is much less widespread in comparison with foliage, is there any difference between their semantics or the way they are used?

Solution 1:

The two words are pretty much synonyms in all contexts, but if a distinction can ever be made, perhaps leafage sometimes alludes slightly more to the individual leaves (albeit, collectively). I don't advance this possibility particularly strongly, because I don't think I really believe it myself.

Thus you might see leafage pattern used relatively more often to refer to the "average" pattern on each leaf, as opposed to the foliage pattern referring to the overall disposition of leaves on the plant. By "relatively" there, I mean after allowing for the fact that "foliage" is much more common in the first place.

The general advice would simply be; forget about using the word "leafage". There are no contexts where "foliage" would actually be wrong, and using the uncommon word may stand out as "odd".

Solution 2:

It depends on context and audience.

Leafage sounds scientific, like something a botanist might say; especially if making references to leaves both singly and collectively (in the same article, speech, etc.) and the author wants to maintain a singular subject. To me, this seems a proper use of such collective nouns.

Foliage is more colloquial.