Except/besides/without

[polokoza]

Hello,

I am struggling with the following sentence:

"Mature leaves were collected from the upper half of the birch crown annually (except four terminal)."

In other words, we collected some leaves from a tree, but always left the last four leaves on every twig. Do you get the same information from my sentence? Would it be better to add "leaves" after "terminal"? Is "except" OK, or is there some better word (i.e. "besides", "without", "excluding"...)?

I will greatly appreciate your suggestions, thanks!

 

[englishhobby]

I looked up the term "terminal leaf" and couldn't find it (I think this is because I don't have a specialized biology dictionary). However I found a discussion on a forum where this term was used.
Now to the subject. I would put it like this:
"Mature leaves were collected from the upper half of the birch crown annually (except the four terminal leaves)."

or like this:
"Mature leaves (except the four terminal ones)were collected from the upper half of the birch crown annually ."

or even like this (but about this last sentence I would consult an expert in biology terms first):
"Mature leaves (except the four terminals) were collected from the upper half of the birch crown annually ."

Mind that I am not a native speaker.)

And I am too struggling now with the use of the preposition "for" with "except" in this case (except or except for?) )))) Only native speakers can help.