The size and shape of the plant leaf is an important agronomic trait. To understand the molecular mechanism governing plant leaf shape, we characterized a classic rice (Oryza sativa) dwarf mutant named narrow leaf1 (nal1), which exhibits a characteristic phenotype of narrow leaves. In accordance with reduced leaf blade width, leaves of nal1 contain a decreased number of longitudinal veins. Anat...

Leaf shape in Arabidopsis is modulated by patterning events in the margin that utilize a PIN-based auxin exporter/CUC2 transcription factor system to define regions of promotion and retardation of growth, leading to morphogenesis. In addition to auxin exporters, leaves also express auxin importers, notably members of the AUX1/LAX family. In contrast to their established roles in embryogenesis, ...

* Variation in the size and shape (physiognomy) of leaves has long been correlated to climate, and paleobotanists have used these correlations to reconstruct paleo-climate. Most studies focus on site-level means of largely nonoverlapping species sets. The sensitivity of leaf shape to climate within species is poorly known, which limits our general understanding of leaf-climate relationships and...

Leaf veins are almost ubiquitous across the range of terrestrial plant diversity, yet their influence on leaf photosynthetic performance remains uncertain. We show here that specific physical attributes of the vascular plumbing network are key limiters of the hydraulic and photosynthetic proficiency of any leaf. Following the logic that leaf veins evolved to bypass inefficient water transport t...

Background Leaf shape among Passiflora species is spectacularly diverse. Underlying this diversity in leaf shape are profound changes in the patterning of the primary vasculature and laminar outgrowth. Each of these aspects of leaf morphology-vasculature and blade-provides different insights into leaf patterning. Results Here, we morphometrically analyze >3300 leaves from 40 different Passifl...

The morphology of cotton leaves varies considerably. Phenotypes, including okra, sea-island, super-okra, and broad leaf, are controlled by a multiple allele locus, L2 Okra leaf (L2°) is an incomplete mutation that alters leaf shape by increasing the length of lobes with deeper sinuses. Using a map-based cloning strategy, we cloned the L2 locus gene, which encodes a LATE MERISTEM IDENTITY 1 (LMI...

Plants kept as dried herbarium specimens share many characteristics with their living counterparts, but there are some substantial differences between them. Due to dehydration, leaves of herbarium specimens change not only their mass and colour, but in many cases change their dimensions, too. The present study aimed to determine whether leaf shape changes during the drying process. A total of 7...

Background Leaf shape among Passiflora species is spectacularly diverse. Underlying this diversity in leaf shape are profound changes in the patterning of the primary vasculature and laminar outgrowth. Each of these aspects of leaf morphology-vasculature and blade-provides different insights into leaf patterning. Results Here, we morphometrically analyze >3300 leaves from 40 different Passifl...

In this paper we present a system for tree leaf segmentation in natural images that combines a first, unrefined segmentation step, with an estimation of descriptors depicting the general shape of a simple leaf. It is based on a light polygonal model, built to represent most of the leaf shapes, that will be deformed to fit the leaf in the image. Avoiding some classic obstacles of active contour ...

This paper proposes a new model for the shapes and details of simple and compound leaves in plants. The layout of leaf is modeled via branching structure generated using B-Splines. The proposed model controls the relationships that govern the shape through the marginal and venation of the considered simple leaf or leaflet. The developed algorithm starts by taking four points that represent the ...