The light scattering properties of leaves are used as input data for models which mathematically describe the transport of photons within plant canopies. Polarization measurements may aid in the investigation of these properties. This paper describes an instrument for rapidly determining the bidirectional light scattering properties of leaves illuminated by linearly polarized light.Results for one species, magnolia, show large differences in the bidirectional light scattering properties depending whether or not the electric vector E is parallel to the foliage surface.