Podostemaceae (the river weeds) are ecologically and morphologically unusual angiosperms. The subfamily Tristichoideae has typical shoot apical meristems (SAMs) that produce leaves, but Podostemoideae is devoid of SAMs and new leaves arise below the base of older leaves. To reveal the genetic basis for the evolution of novel shoot organogenesis in Podostemaceae, we examined the expression patte...

Few studies have examined the effects of plant growth on nutrient remobilization in phenologically contrasting species. Here we evaluated the consequences of above-ground seasonality of growth and leaf shedding on the remobilization of nutrients from branches in eight evergreen Mediterranean phanaerophytes that differ widely in phenology. Vegetative growth, flower bud formation, flowering, frui...

Since leaves are essentially energy-gaining organs, the arrangement of leaves in time (leaf phenology) and in space (canopy architecture) in both seasonal and nonseasonal environments can be viewed as a central element in plant strategies for carbon gain. Interrelationships among leaf longevity, leaf habit, and leaf-emergence pattern together with shoot architecture affect plant productivity. L...

Leaves are one of the most conspicuous and important organs of all seed plants. A fundamental source of morphological diversity in leaves is the degree to which the leaf is dissected by lobes and leaflets. We used publicly available segmental introgression lines to describe the quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling the difference in leaf dissection seen between two tomato species, Lycopersi...

In this study, the relation between leaf area and its dimensions was estimated using a non-destructive method. This method is based on this fact that the leaf shape does not change during the growing season. In this method, leaf area during the growing season is estimated based on the dimensions of the smallest leaf in the initial stage of plant growth or at any growth stage by measuring the le...

In this study, the effects of non-hazardous levels of heavy metal (Zn, Cu, Cr and Cd)-enriched organic waste on biomass partitioning and heavy metal accumulation in plant organs in July and October were determined for two poplar clones (Populus deltoides × maximowiczii—clone Eridano and P. × euramericana—clone I-214) commonly used in Italian poplar plantations. Soil amended with the industrial ...

Leaf senescence is a long developmental phase important for plant performance and nutrient management. Cell constituents are recycled in old leaves to provide nutrients that are redistributed to the sink organs. Up to now, metabolomic changes during leaf senescence have been mainly studied in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana L.). The metabolite profiling conducted in barley (Hordeum vulgare L....

A single plant produces several different types of leaves or leaf-like organs during its life span. This phenomenon, which is termed heteroblasty, is an invariant feature of shoot development but is also regulated by environmental factors that affect the physiology of the plant. Invariant patterns of heteroblastic development reflect global changes in the developmental status of the shoot, such...

Triple-barrelled microelectrodes measuring K(+) activity (a(K)), pH and membrane potential were used to make quantitative measurements of vacuolar and cytosolic a(K) in epidermal and mesophyll cells of barley plants grown in nutrient solution with 0 or 200 mM added NaCl. Measurements of a(K) were assigned to the cytosol or vacuole based on the pH measured. In epidermal cells, the salt treatment...

Carica papaya L. leaves have been used in ethnomedicine for the treatment of fevers and cancers. Despite its benefits, very few studies on their potential toxicity have been described. The aim of the present study was to characterize the chemical composition of the leaf extract from 'Sekaki' C. papaya cultivar by UPLC-TripleTOF-ESI-MS and to investigate the sub-acute oral toxicity in Sprague Da...