Ex. 6 The Leaf
Ex. 6 The Leaf
Ex. 6 The Leaf
INTRODUCTION
The leaf is a lateral outgrowth that develops from the node of the stem. The leaf is typically a thin,
expanded structure with a green color. It is regarded as the most important vegetative organ because
of its function in food manufacture or photosynthesis.
Leaves have a considerable value in plant identification. Plants have varied leaf forms such that some
plant taxa are distinguishable by their leaf characteristics. They vary in leaf bases, leaf tips, leaf margins,
and so on
In this exercise, morpho-anatomical features of the leaf will be studied in relation to its normal
function of photosynthesis and transpiration and in relation to plant habit.
MATERIALS
External Morphology
Lab Work 1.
A. Observe the following in your specimens. Note the different variations in the different leaf
parts. Fill out the Table.
Table 1. Variations in the different leaf parts.
Specimen Base Tip Outline Margin Venation Leaf surface
1.
2.
3.
3
i. Sheathing – when the base of the blade or the petiole forms a more or less closed vertical
cylinder surrounding the stem.
5. Leaf bases
a. Auricled or auriculate – eared; having a pair of ear-like projections at the base.
b. Cordate – heart-shaped; a sinus is present where the petiole is attached.
c. Cuneate – when the leaf base is narrow to broad, wedge-like, tapering, acute, the sides
straight.
d. Hastate – the base has a pair of basal lobes that flare outward.
e. Oblique – when the lowermost sides of the leaf is markedly unequal.
f. Peltate – the base is shield-shaped, with the petiole attached at or near the center of the
lower surface of a usually orbicular blade.
g. Perfoliate – when the base extends around the stem, the leaf being sessile.
h. Sagittate or arrow-shaped – when the “ears” or lobes are acute and turned downwards.
6. Outline or shape of leaves
a. Acicular or acerose – the leaf blade is shaped like a needle, as in Pinus, very slender, usually
rounded in cross section
b. Cordate – heart-shaped, especially with regard to the base.
c. Cuneate or wedge-shaped – broad above, tapering by nearly straight lines to the
base
d. Deltoid – the blade is more or less shaped like an equilateral triangle.
e. Elliptic – like an ellipse, equally rounded at both ends.
f. Falcate – when the leaf is more or less curved.
g. Filiform – threadlike, very slender and cylindrical, often flexuous
h. Flabellate or fan-shaped
i. Lanceolate – narrow and tapering toward the ends like the shape of a lance.
j. Linear – narrow and several times longer than wide; the margins are parallel.
k. Lorate – when the blade is strap-shaped, flattened and flexuous.
l. Obdeltoid – the reverse of deltoid.
m. Oblanceolate – the reverse of lanceolate.
n. Oblong – about twice as longa s broad, with the sides nearly parallel through the middle
portion.
o. Obovate – similar to ovate, but with the petiole at the narrow end.
p. Orbicular – when the leaf is circular in shape.
q. Oval – somewhat like an elliptic, but the breadth distinctly more than one half of the length;
broadly ovate.
r. Ovate – egg-shaped like the longitudinal section of hen’s egg, in which the petiole is attached
to
the broad end.
s. Peltate – when the petiole is attached to the lower surface of the blade, the petiole
appearing as though it pierced the blade.
t. Reniform – when the leaf blade is shaped like a kidney.
u. Rhombic or rhomboidal – the blade is shaped like a diamond, the petiole is attached to one
of the sharper angles.
v. Spatulate – when the leaf is narrow, more or less rounded above and tapering from the
apex.
w. Subulate – slender and tapering from the base upward; awl-shaped.
7. Variation in leaf margins
a. Ciliate – the leaf margin has row of fine hairs, sometimes so minute that it is not detected
by the naked eye.
b. Circinate – the margin is rolled inward from the top.
c. Crenate – the “teeth” along the margins are rounded.
d. Crenulate – the diminutive of crenate
e. Crispate – when the margin curves in a vertical plane in minute waves as in parsley
f. Dentate or toothed – when the teeth are sharped and point outward.
g. Denticulate – similar to dentate but with finer teeth
h. Dissected – when the margin is cut into more or less finer divisions.
i. Doubly-serrate – when the teeth or serrate margins themselves serrulate or bears teeth.
j. Entire – smooth; the margin has no indentation of any sort.
k. Involute – when the margin are rolled inward toward the upper side.
l. Lacerate – when the margins are irregularly cut about one half to two-thirds the distance to
the midrib.
m. Laciniate – when the leaf blade is cut into narrow or more or less ribbon-like segments.
n. Palmatifid – when the margins are palmately cleft or parted.
o. Pinnatifid – when the margins are pinnately cleft or parted.
p. Repand or Undulate – the margins are slightly wavy or weakly sinuate.
q. Revolute – when the margins are rolled backward to the underside.
r. Serrate – when the margin is cut into a deep, sharp teeth pointing forward like the teeth of a
saw.
s. Serrulate – the diminutive of serrate.
t. Sinuate – when the margin becomes strongly wavy.
B. Examine the monocot and dicot leaves. Observe the morphological features in each group.
Make a list of these features in Table 2.
The three types of leaves you are comparing come from quite unrelated plant species, which also
happen to differ in their environmental tolerances. A good example to learn for "typical" leaf
structure is Ixora, mesophytic [adapted to average conditions- not too wet nor too dry. Locate the
epidermis, mesophyll layer (palisade and spongy), and stomata. Corn, like many grasses of tropical
origin, is especially well adapted to rapid growth in warm, bright conditions. A pine leaf, finally, is
xerophytic [considered to be highly adapted to resist both drying and freezing].
The thick pine leaf is less vulnerable to water loss because it has a much smaller evaporative surface,
sunken stomates, a thick cuticle, sclerified epidermal cells, special arrangement of the photosynthetic
tissues and an endodermis that can control water movement within the leaf. These extreme water
conserving features are especially important during the winter, when frozen xylem prevents water
replacement [sometimes for months at a time]. Underlying and reinforcing the epidermis of pine
leaves are one to three layers of sclerified hypodermis. The combination of these extra layers and a
well-developed cuticle result in pine leaves having better control of water loss.
The corn leaf is intermediate in ability to absorb light and intermediate in its ability to resist drying
out. A distinctive feature of upper epidermis of a corn leaf are rows of large, bulliform cells that run
full length of the leaf lamina. Under extended drought conditions, the bulliform cells collapse and
cause the leaf to roll up. In doing so, a high percent of the stomates are covered by other parts of
the lamina or are inside of the cylinder formed by the leaf. As a result, the leaf loses much less
water through transpiration and the plant
may survive the drought period. Of course, the same features that reduce water loss also reduce CO2
absorption and photosynthetic rates are reduced.
The photosynthetic mesophyll tissue occurs just inside the epidermis, often in several layers. Note that in
the Ixora leaf the cells of the mesophyll are packed densely in the upper part of the leaf, and loosely in
the lower part. This is consistent with a leaf that is positioned horizontally to the ground, with
predictable upper and lower surfaces. The close packing and orderly arrangement of the upper
palisade mesophyll enhance light interception, perhaps at the expense of efficient diffusion of carbon
dioxide. The more loosely arranged spongy mesophyll beneath favors carbon dioxide diffusion. Most
of the stomates in leaf occur in the lower epidermis and provide passages between the outside air
and the spongy mesophyll.
Note that corn leaves lack mesophyll differentiation. This is in keeping with the less horizontal
orientation we expect in a grass leaf. Sun is likely to strike the relatively vertical corn leaf from either
side, depending on the time of day. Look for stomates in the corn leaf cross section. Just to the inside
of the leaf beneath each stomate is a sub-stomatal chamber, which serves to improve the diffusion of
carbon dioxide through the mesophyll.
In santan and corn leaves, the mesophyll occupies all the space between the upper and lower
epidermis except for the vascular bundles (veins) that traverse the leaf. In pine leaves, though, the
mesophyll extends only to the endodermis, which separates it from the central transfusion tissue, in which
the vascular bundles are embedded. Pine mesophyll cell packing is not easily inferred from a cross
section. Your slide may show densely packed mesophyll between the epidermal layers and the
endodermis, but it may show instead many air spaces and few cells. The difference from one cross
section to another results from bands of closely and loosely packed cells alternating along the length
of the leaf. The pine mesophyll cells themselves have distinctive lobing and are likely to stain darkly
because of high resin content in a prepared slide. Such resin concentrations probably help increase
freezing resistance. A last distinctive feature of the pine leaf mesophyll is the presence of resin canals
essentially identical to those found in the wood and bark.
In santan and corn leaves, vascular bundles range from very large, like the midrib, to a cylinder of just
a few cells near the end of a small vein. Look for that variation in your slides. Between the
parallel veins of a monocot leaf are perpendicular small cross veins called commissural veins.
Several smaller parallel veins typically occur between pairs of main veins. In many grasses, including
the corn you are observing, these smaller vascular bundles have a cellular arrangement called Kranz
(German for “wreath”) anatomy. Kranz anatomy has evolved independently in many monocots and
some dicots and allows C4 photosynthesis, an especially efficient kind of photosynthesis covered
later in the course. The special bundle sheath of small corn veins can be observed.
Overall, a pine needle has a greater proportion of thick-walled cells than a lilac leaf or corn leaf and
is less likely to show conspicuous wilting even if it loses a lot of water. In lilac and corn leaves, the
stomates, with their paired guard cells, are right on the surface. In pines, each stomate is recessed
into the leaf surface, producing what are referred to as sunken stomates. Sunken stomates tend to
reduce water loss, because each water vapor molecule must follow a longer path to escape the leaf.
The price paid is in slower carbon dioxide uptake, also because of the longer diffusion path.
Modified Leaves
Lab Work 3.
1. Examine very closely the specimens. Identify the different modifications or specialization in each.
2. Complete the table below.
QUESTIONS
1. What is a ligule? Where is it found in your specimen? Do you find it in both monocot and dicot
leaves? Any taxonomic value?
2. Do you find compound leaves only in dicots? Why?
3. Is there a significance of compound leaves relative to strong winds? How about to leaf-eating
animals? Justify your answer.
References:
Balangcod T.D. and Buot I.E. Jr. (2011). Plant Taxonomy: A Laboratory Manual (A Revised
Edition). Philippine Society for the Study of Nature. 109 pp.
Laboratory 7. Leaf Anatomy (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www4.uwsp.edu/biology/courses/botlab/130%20lab%20manual/.../m07leaf.doc