| Abstract: | The number of prickles upon the edge of a leaf is related bycomplex laws to the size of the leaf, the number of prickleson the other edge, the number of prickles on other leaves ofthe shoot, the phyllotaxy of the shoot, and the intrinsic asymmetryof the leaf. The available evidence indicates that pricklesarise by the interaction of not less than five recognizablephysiological systems. The physical nature of these systemsis unknown but their mathematical properties have been partlyelucidated. Some of them are found to involve the transmissionof morphogenetic impulses while others may be purely local intheir action. As one of the consequences of this physiologicalsituation it is found that shoots having opposite directionsof phyllotaxy differ quantitatively as well as qualitatively. |
