Research Paper About Leaf
Research Paper About Leaf
Research Paper About Leaf
In all, plants are fractal organisms, like Sierpinski triangle (Fig. 5.13). All fractals
are self-similar and plants are no exception. Self-similarity or “Russian doll effect
“means that almost every part of plant may be a part of the bigger complex, this bigger
one—the part of even bigger system, and so on. This is what we see in leaves as levels
of hierarchy. Simple leaves have just one level of hierarchy whereas compound leaves
have two or more levels of hierarchy. Compound leaves are sometimes mixed with
branches but there are many other characteristics which allow to distinguish them
How to
distinguish compound leaves (left) from branches (right).
To describe leaves, one should always note the level of hierarchy like “on the first
level of hierarchy, the shape is on the second level of hierarchy, the shape is ...” As it
was mentioned above, leaf hierarchy is similar to Russian dolls: every smaller doll has a
bigger doll (next hierarchy level) outside. For example, if the leaf is compound (consists
of multiple leaflets), the overall shape of it could be, saying, round (circular) but the
shape of individual leaflet of the very same leaf could be ovate.
As a result, the description will say that on first level of hierarchy the leaf is ovate,
and on the third level—circular. There are three types of leaf characters: general,
terminal, and repetitive. General characters are only applicable to the whole leaf.
Terminal characters are only applicable to the terminal leaflets. Terminals are the end
parts of leaves, they do not split in smaller terminals; clover leaf, for example, has 3
terminals.
Lastly, repetitive characters repeat on each level of leaf hierarchy. General and
terminal characters do not depend on hierarchy. Repetitive characters may be different
on each step of hierarchy.
Leaves with one, two and three levels of hierarchy. Please note that the last leaf
is ovate on the first and second level but circular on the third level of hierarchy.
General characters of leaf include stipules and other structures located near leaf
base sheath (typical for grasses and other liliids) and ocrea (typical for buckwheat
family, Polygonaceae).
Repetitive characters are the shape of the leaf dissection, and whether the blade is
stalked (has petiole) or not. Terminal characters are applicable only to terminal leaflets
of leaves. These characters are the shape of the leaf blade base, the leaf tip, the type of
margin, the surface, and the venation. The base of the leaf blade could be rounded,
truncate (straight), cuneate, and cordate. The leaf apex could be rounded, mucronate,
acute, obtuse, and acuminate. Leaf margin variants are entire (smooth) and toothed:
dentate, serrate, double serrate and crenate.
Leaf dissection
Terminal leaf characters
Leaf veins are vascular bundles coming to the leaf from stem. Frequently, there
is a main vein and lateral veins (veins of second order). There are multiple
classifications of leaf venation; and example is shown on the note that in dichotomous
venation, each vein divides into two similar parts whichis known as dichotomous
branching.
The example of dichotomous venation is the leaf of maidenhair tree, ginkgo
(Ginkgo biloba). Another frequently segregated type of venation is parallelodromous,
but in essence, this is acrodromous venation in linear leaves (for example, leaves of
grasses) where most of veins are almost parallel. To characterize the whole leaf, one
might use the following plan:
Heterophylly refers to a plant having more than one kind of leaf. A plant can have
both juvenile leaves and adult leaves, water leaves and air leaves, or sun leaves and
shade leaves. A leaf mosaics refers to the distribution of leaves in a single plane
perpendicular to light rays, this provides the least amount of shading for each leaf.
Leaves have seasonal lives; they arise from the SAM through leaf primordial, and grow
via marginal meristems. The old leaves separate from the plant with an abscission
zone.
The famous poet and writer Johann Wolfgang Goethe is also considered a
founder of plant morphology. He is invented an idea of a “primordial plant” which he
called “Urpflanze” where all organs were modifications of several primordial ones. In
accordance to Goethe’s ideas, plant morphology considers that many visible plant parts
are just modifications of basic plant organs.
Modifications of the leaf include spines or scales for defense, tendrils for support,
traps, “sticky tapes”, or urns for interactions (in that case, catching insects), plantlets for
expansion, and succulent leaves for storage. Plantlets are little mini plants that grow on
the main plant and then fall off and grow into new plants; the most known example is
Kalancho e ̈ (“mother of thousands”) which frequently uses plantlets to reproduce. Plants
that have insect traps of various kinds are called carnivorous plants (in fact, they are still
photoautotrophs and use insect bodied only as fertilizer). Several types of these are the
cobra lily (Darlingtonia), various pitcher plants (Nepenthes, Cephalotus, Sarracenia), the
butterwort (Utricularia), the sundew (Drosera), and the best known, the Venus flytrap
(Dionaea).
Anatomy of the Leaf
Leaf anatomy
When a typical stem vascular bundle (which has xylem under phloem) enters the
leaf, xylem usually faces upwards, whereas phloem faces downwards. Bundles of C4-
plants have additional bundle sheath cells in their vascular bundles. The epidermis
includes typical epidermal cells, stomata surrounded with guard cells (also optionally
with subsidiary cells), and trichomes.
Almost all epidermal cells are covered with waterproof cuticle, rich of lignin and
waxes. The stomata assists in gas exchange, cooling and water transpiration. There are
two guard cells paired together on each side of the stoma. These guard cells are kidney
beans shaped and have a thicker cell wall in the middle. The thicker cell wall on the
inside makes use of the so-called “bacon effect” (when bacon slice curved on the frying
pan) because thinner part of the cell wall is more flexible and therefore bends easier.
The same curving effect might be seen in blowing air balloon with the piece.
Left to right, top to bottom: leaf of sclerophyte Pinus, leaf of salt-avoiding
(succulent-like) halophyte Salsola (epidermis is at the bottom), shade leaf of Sambucus,
leaf of Syringa with guard’s cells (bottom left). Magnifications ×100 (first) and ×400
(others) of scotch on one side.
The opening of the stoma starts from K+ accumulation, then osmosis inflates
guard cells, and finally the uneven cell wall facilitates the opening of stoma. The stoma
closes when the potassium ions exit the cell and water amount decreases in its
vacuoles
Closed and opened stoma. Cell walls are white, cytoplasm green, vacuoles blue.
In most cases, the lower epidermis contains more stomata than the upper
epidermis because the bottom of the leaf is cooler and transpiration there is safer. A
similar logic is applicable to trichomes (hairs): they are also more frequent on the lower
side of the leaf.
Ecological Forms of Plants