Application of leaf extract causes repetitive action potentials inBiophytum sensitivum

A wound stimulus evoked a number of repetivite action potentials in the leaf ofBiophytum sensitivum. When the cut end of a leaf was immersed in a leaf extract, the resulting repetitive action potentials continue for a long time. These repetitive action potentials disappeared immediately when the leaf extract, which contains a proposed stimulant, was removed and the cut end was washed with water.     

Changes in spatial distribution during the life history of a tropical tree,Scaphium macropodum (Sterculiaceae) in borneo

We studied the spatial distribution of fruits and plants, mortality and growth rates ofScaphium macropodum (Sterculiaceae) in four 1-ha plots in a tropical rain forest in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The species is a large deciduous tree and produces wind-dispersed fruits on defoliated twigs. The density of dispersed fruits on the ground decreased with increasing distance from a parent tree. The area under the parent's crown had the highest density of the fruits and the highest mortality of the seedlings immediately after germination. Consequently, the density of the established seedlings peaked 14 m from the tree which is outside its crown. Thick litter mainly from the parent tree seemed to physically prevent the seedlings' root from reaching the soil surface and caused the high mortality. Juvenile and mature trees distributed exclusively, suggesting that regeneration is the most successful outside of the crown of mature trees. Saplings under canopy shade did not grow well.Scaphium macropodum is hypothesized to require a gap for seedling growth and successful regeneration, whereas it can germinate and last under closed canopies as suppressed seedlings or saplings.     

Correspondence of environmental tolerances with leaf and branch attributes for six co-occurring species of broadleaf evergreen trees in northern California

 For the angiosperm dominants of northern California’s mixed evergreen forests, this study compares the display of photosynthetic tissue within leaves and along branches, and examines the correspondence between these morphological attributes and the known environmental tolerances of these species. Measurements were made on both sun and shade saplings of six species: Arbutus m e n z i e s i i (Ericaceae), C h r y s o l e p i s c h r y s o p h y l l a (Fagaceae), L i t h o c a r p u s d e n s i f l o r u s (Fagaceae), Quercus c h r y s o l e p i s (Fagaceae), Quercus w i s l i z e n i i (Fagaceae), and Umbellularia c a l i f o r n i c a (Lauraceae). All species had sclerophyllous leaves with thick epidermal walls, but species differed in leaf specific weight, thickness of mesophyll tissues and in the presence of a hypodermis, crystals, secretory idioblasts, epicuticular deposits, and trichomes. The leaves of Arbutus were 2 – 5 times larger than those of C h r y s o l e p i s, L i t h o c a r p u s and Umbellularia and 4 – 10 times larger than those of both Quercus species. Together with differences in branch architecture, these leaf traits divide the species into groups corresponding to environmental tolerances. Shade-tolerant C h r y s o l e p i s, L i t h o c a r p u s, and Umbellularia had longer leaf lifespans and less palisade tissue, leaf area, and crown mass per volume than the intermediate to intolerant Arbutus and Quercus. Having smaller leaves, Quercus branches had more branch mass per leaf area and per palisade volume than other species, whereas Arbutus had less than other species. These differences in display of photosynthetic tissue should contribute to greater growth for Quercus relative to the other species under high light and limited water, for Arbutus under high light and water availability, and for C h r y s o l e p i s, L i t h o c a r p u s, and Umbellularia under limiting light levels. Accepted: 22 March 1996     

Prolonged leaf senescence in Clusia multiflora H.B.K.

 Leaf aging and senescence in Clusia multiflora H.B.K. was investigated by artificial treatments, such as floating leaf discs on water in darkness, or darkening leaves attached to the parent plant in situ in trees living in a tropical cloud forest. In both cases several parameters modified by age were evaluated such as nitrogen levels, chlorophyll content, succulence and carbohydrates levels. A prolonged senescence (nearly 3 months in floating leaf discs) was observed, contrasting with species such as Heliocarpus americanus (5 days) and Cecropia palmatisecta (20 days), characterized by low values of leaf weight per area, but similar to species with high leaf weight per area and with high levels of organic acids such as Clusia minor and Fourcroya humboldtiana, where acids may act as a reserve of C and energy. After 30 days in darkness C. multiflora leaf samples collected in the field did not show differences in comparison to non-darkened opposite leaves with respect to chlorophyll, titratable protons and carbohydrates, and leaves performed photosynthesis after 2 months in darkness. The effect of age in leaves was evaluated in a gradient of leaves, sampled at different positions from the apex and ranging in age from 15 days to 2 years old. The study of senescence in tropical wild plants is uncommon, but it is important knowledge for understanding foliar development, and response to internal rather than environmental regulation in climates where seasons are not strongly marked as is the case in the tropical mountain forest, where C. multiflora constitutes an important component in the early successional vegetation. Received: 21 October 1996 / Accepted: 12 November 1996     

Leaf characteristics and optical properties of different woody species

 Light partition has been examined and evaluated on five woody species (Olea europaea, Ficus carica, Pittosporum tobira, Hedera helix maculata, Persica vulgaris) in relation to their leaf morpho-histological characteristics, water and chlorophyll contents. Leaf parameters and optical properties (reflectance, transmittance, absorbance) in PAR, FR and NIR wavebands (400–1100 nm) were preliminarily submitted to a canonical correlation analysis where lamina thickness and water content showed a leading role in determining all the optical properties, while chlorophyll, influential in the PAR region, was remarkably effective only in an extreme pigment situation when green and albino patches of ivy leaves were compared. Transmittance appeared inversely related to lamina thickness in accordance with the Lambert Beer law. Significant correlations were found also between mesophyll water content and both transmittance (positive) and reflectance (negative). Olive leaves showed peculiar optical patterns because of the dense and continuous trichome layer on their abaxial surface. Received: 3 January 1997 / Accepted: 5 May 1997     

Paraveinal mesophyll: Review and survey of the subtribeErythrininae (Phaseoleae,Papilionoideae, Leguminosae)

Paraveinal mesophyll (PVM) is a distinctive anatomical feature of the leaf mesophyll of some plant taxa that may represent a specialized physiological compartment. A comprehensive review of the 42 published references that mention PVM or similar cell layers and a survey of 121 of the 272 species of all nine genera of thePhaseoleae subtribeErythrininae demonstrate that PVM is nearly exclusively found inLeguminosae. InLeguminosae, PVM is either rare or absent in subfamilyCaesalpinioideae, uncommon inMimosoideae, and extensively distributed amongPapilionoideae. In subtribeErythrininae, PVM is ubiquitous inErythrina, and occurs in four other genera. ThreeErythrininae genera (Apios, Mucuna, andCochlianthus) lack PVM. Unique chloroplast-poor, enlarged conical cells (pellucid palisade idioblasts) occur in 80 species ofErythrina but not in any other genus ofErythrininae.     

Direct and efficient plant regeneration from leaf explants of Solanum tuberosum l. cv. Bintje

Summary A two-step procedure was used for plant regeneration from in vitro grown leaf strips (2–3 mm wide) of cv. Bintje. Step I medium was designed with 2,4-dichlorophenoxycetic acid (2,4-D) at 0.0 or 9.0 M, in combination with 2.28 M kinetin (K), benzyl adenine (BA), zeatin (Z) or zeatin riboside (ZR). Step II media were 2,4-D-free media containing 5.78 M gibberellic acid (GA3) and growth regulators similar to those of step I media. Leaf explants cultured in medium I containing zeatin riboside or zeatin for 6 days and then subcultured in medium II containing zeatin riboside produced numerous shoots without callus formation. Zeatin riboside containing step I and II media caused shoot regeneration in a high number (97.5±2.2) of explants. Approximately, 33.7±8.4 shoots were regenerated from each leaf explant.Abbreviations BA benzyladenine - Z zeatin - ZR zeatin riboside (trans isomer) - 2,4-D 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid     

Paraheliotropic leaf movement in Siratro as a protective mechanism against drought-induced damage to primary photosynthetic reactions: damage by excessive light and heat

Damage to primary photosynthetic reactions by drought, excess light and heat in leaves of Macroptilium atropurpureum Dc. cv. Siratro was assessed by measurements of chlorophyll fluorescence emission kinetics at 77 K (-196°C). Paraheliotropic leaf movement protected waterstressed Siratro leaves from damage by excess light (photoinhibition), by heat, and by the interactive effects of excess light and high leaf temperatures. When the leaves were restrained to a horizontal position, photoinhibition occurred and the degree of photoinhibitory damage increased with the time of exposure to high levels of solar radiation. Severe inhibition was followed by leaf death, but leaves gradually recovered from moderate damage. This drought-induced photoinhibitory damage seemed more closely related to low leaf water potential than to low leaf conductance. Exposure to leaf temperatures above 42°C caused damage to the photosynthetic system even in the dark and leaves died at 48°C. Between 42 and 48°C the degree of heat damage increased with the time of exposure, but recovery from moderate heat damage occurred over several days. The threshold temperature for direct heat damage increased with the growth temperature regime, but was unaffected by water-stress history or by current leaf water status. No direct heat damage occurred below 42°C, but in water-stressed plants photoinhibition increased with increasing leaf temperature in the range 31–42°C and with increasing photon flux density up to full sunglight values. Thus, water stress evidently predisposes the photosynthetic system to photoinhibition and high leaf temperature exacerbates this photoinhibitory damage. It seems probable that, under the climatic conditions where Siratro occurs in nature, but in the absence of paraheliotropic leaf movement, photoinhibitory damage would occur more frequently during drought than would direct heat damage.Abbreviations and symbols PFD photon flux area density - PSI, PSII photosyntem I, II - F _M, F _O, F _V maximum, instantaneous, variable fluorescence emission - PLM paraheliotropic leaf movement; all data of parameter of variation are mean ± standard error     

Allelopathic effects ofEupatorium riparium on population regulation of two species ofGalinsoga and soil microbes

Summary Allelopathic effect ofEupatorium riparium Regel, a dominant ruderal weed at higher altitudes in Meghalaya state in north-eastern India, was studied on two common sympatric annual weeds,Galinsoga ciliata (Raf.) andG. parviflora Cav. and on soil microbes. Seed germination and radicle and plumule growth of both species ofGalinsoga were suppressed by the aqueous extract and leachate ofE. riparium. Although the leaf leachate, leaf and litter extracts and litter bed caused considerable reduction in leaf area and seed and dry matter production in both species ofGalinsoga, the effect was much more pronounced onG. parviflora. The inhibitory effect was directly correlated with the concentration of the extract and leachate. The soil microbial population and growth of theGalinsoga spp. declined considerably in the experimental pots where the soil had earlier received leachate of different plant parts ofE. riparium growing in it. The presence of the partly decomposed litter ofE. riparium in the pots reduced soil microbial population and growth of the two weeds much more strongly as compared to the litter in the advanced stages of decomposition. The study also revealed that the abundance and colony growth of the two test fungiviz. Trichoderma viride andAspergillus flavus were differentially affected by the allelopathy ofE. riparium; T. viride being favoured andA. flavus inhibited.     

Leaf architecture of some acanthaceae

Leaf architectural pattern has been studied in 27 genera and 35 species of the Acanthaceae. The major venation pattern conforms to pinnate camptodromous with eucamptodromous or festooned brochidodromous secondaries, pinnate craspedodromous inAcanthus ilicifolius and acrodromous inLepidagathis trinervis. Intersecondary veins are common. The marginal ultimate venation is looped. The areoles are variable in size. The vein endings are usually simple, linear or cuved or divide once or twice dichotomously. Isolated vein endings, tracheids, isolated free vein endings and extension cells are observed. Transfusion tracheids are seen inDicliptera verticillata. Miniature vessel elements with simple perforation plates are noticed lying free in the areole or at the end of tracheids inSeriocalyx scaber andThunbergia grandiflora.Elytraria acaulis, Nelsonia canescens andStaurogynae zeylanica exhibit venation pattern shown by majority of the taxa studied, of the Acanthaceae.