Orixate Pattern Leaf Arrangement (IMAGE)

University of Tokyo

Orixate Pattern Leaf Arrangement

Caption

Researchers at the University of Tokyo recently improved the equation that is used to calculate leaf arrangement patterns (phyllotaxis) by studying the unusual pattern of Orixa japonica. Leaves on an O. japonica branch (upper left) and a schematic diagram of orixate phyllotaxis (right). The orixate pattern displays a peculiar four-cycle change of the angle between leaves (180 degrees to 90 degrees to 180 degrees to 270 degrees). A scanning electron microscope image (center and bottom left) shows the winter bud of Orixa japonica, where leaves first begin to grow. Primordial leaves are labeled sequentially with the oldest leaf as P8 and the youngest leaf as P1. The label O marks the shoot apex.

Credit

Images by Takaaki Yonekura, Akitoshi Iwamoto, and Munetaka Sugiyama, CC-BY, originally published in <em>PLOS Computational Biology</em> DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007044

Usage Restrictions

Images by Takaaki Yonekura, Akitoshi Iwamoto, and Munetaka Sugiyama, CC-BY.

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