Automatic species identification has many advantages over traditional species identification. Currently, most plant automatic identification methods focus on the features of leaf shape, venation and texture, which are promising for the identification of some plant species. However, leaf tooth, a feature commonly used in traditional species identification, is ignored. In this paper, a novel auto...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Despite long-held interest, knowledge on why leaf size varies widely among species is still incomplete. This study was conducted to assess whether abiotic factors, phylogenetic histories and multi-trait interactions act together to shape leaf size. METHODS Fifty-seven pairs of altitudinal vicariant species were selected in northern Spain, and leaf area and a number of func...

A leaf is an organ of vascular plant and is the principal lateral appendage of the stem. Each leaf has a set of features that differentiate it from the other leaves, such as margin and shape. This paper proposes a comparison of supervised plant leaves classification using different approaches, based on different representations of these leaves, and the chosen algorithm. Beginning with the repre...

Summary Morphological variation within organisms is integrated and often modular in nature. That is to say, the size and shape of traits tend to vary in a coordinated and structured manner across sets of organs or parts of an organism. The genetic basis of this morphological integration is largely unknown. Here, we report on quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis of leaf and floral organ size i...

The lobed leaf character is a unique morphologic trait in crops, featuring many potential advantages for agricultural productivity. Although the majority of watermelon varieties feature lobed leaves, the genetic factors responsible for lobed leaf formation remain elusive. The F2:3 leaf shape segregating population offers the opportunity to study the underlying mechanism of lobed leaf formation ...

PREMISE OF THE STUDY How leaf shape is regulated is a long-standing question in botany. For diverse groups of dicotyledon species, lamina folding along the veins and geometry of the space available for the primordia can explain the palmate leaf morphology. Dubbed the kirigami theory, this hypothesis of fold-dependent leaf shape regulation has remained largely theoretical. Using Acer pseudoplata...

BACKGROUND Adaptive radiation in Mediterranean plants is poorly understood. The white-flowered Cistus lineage consists of 12 species primarily distributed in Mediterranean habitats and is herein subject to analysis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We conducted a "total evidence" analysis combining nuclear (ncpGS, ITS) and plastid (trnL-trnF, trnK-matK, trnS-trnG, rbcL) DNA sequences and using ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Morphological diversity of leaves is usually quantified with geometrical characters, while in many cases a simple set of biophysical parameters are involved in constraining size and shape. One of the main physiological functions of the leaf is transpiration and thus one can expect that leaf hydraulic parameters can be used to predict potential morphologies, although with the...