Plant morphology

About: Plant morphology is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1174 publications have been published within this topic receiving 24418 citations. The topic is also known as: phytomorphology & morphology of higher plants.

morphological variation of the leaves of Aechmea distichantha Lem. plants from contrasting habitats of a Chaco forest: a trade-off between leaf area and mechanical support

Abstract: Several authors have reported phenotypic plasticity for bromeliad plants growing in contrasting habitats. Morphological and physiological differences of leaves seem to be an adaptation to water and light use, but there is also a compromise between carbon gain and the costs of sustaining static and dynamic loads. We hypothesized that plastic responses to habitat at the leaf level represent a trade-off between the photosynthetic area for capturing light and mechanical support. In this study, we measured morphological and architectural variables of central and basal leaves of Aechmea distichantha plants from the understory and forest edge, as well as anatomical variables of plants from each habitat. Understory plants had longer leaves, larger blade areas and greater length/width ratios than forest-edge plants. Blades of understory plants were less erect, less succulent, had thicker fiber tissue surrounding the vascular bundles and a higher curvature index than blades of forest-edge plants. Thus, understory plants increased their flexural stiffness by modifying their tissue structure as well as the shape of their leaves. On the other hand, blades of forest-edge plants had higher stomatal density and higher trichome density on their adaxial sides than understory plants. These patterns could be adaptations for higher gas exchange and to reduce vulnerability to photoinhibition in sun plants when compared to shade plants. Finally, most of the morphological and architectural variables were significantly different between positions. These results support our view that there is a trade-off at the leaf level between photosynthetic leaf area (for light capture and water use) and mechanical support.

Plant identification based on leaf shape and texture pattern using Local Graph Structure (LGS).

Abstract: A B S T R A C T Plant identification is the process of matching a specimen plant to a known plant group. Most of the people identify plants visually (morphologically). The natural key systems use morphological characteristics that can be compared with known databases to find the plants' genus. Characteristics observed to include general character, structures of stems, roots, leaves and flowers. People who are not intimately familiar with particular species require assistance in their identification. In this context, we proposed an approach called local graph structure to identify and classify the plant species based on their leaf shape and texture pattern. The experimental results have shown a significant level of accuracy of the plant species identification.