How do plants achieve their remarkably regular arrangement of leaves and flowers? And why does this pattern remain so stable, ...

Leaf size and venation show remarkable diversity across dicotyledons, and are key determinants of plant adaptation in ecosystems past and present. Here we present global scaling relationships of ...

“Leaves have evolved over millions of years to optimize light collection, transport of nutrients to and from the plant body, and mechanical stability against natural stresses,” says David Young a ...

All leaves develop from tiny buds, which consist of only a few cells. The buds always look the same, no matter what kind of leaf they eventually form. Not only that, but very similar leaf shapes can ...

Francesco Vuolo and colleagues from the laboratory of Max Planck Director Miltos Tsiantis are investigating the mechanisms underlying the dazzling variation in leaf shapes one can see in nature.

Most leaves are green due to the pigment chlorophyll, but other colours, such as oranges, reds and blues, may also be present due to less efficient photosynthetic pigments like anthocyanins, carotenes ...

Watery adaptation: The structure and shape of lotus leaves growing on water (left) and above it (right) is influenced by mechanical forces. (Courtesy: F Xu/Fudan University) When the leaves of the ...