Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (3)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by CURTIS, J. D.
Right arrow Articles by LEWIS, G. P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by CURTIS, J. D.
Right arrow Articles by LEWIS, G. P.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by CURTIS, J. D.
Right arrow Articles by LEWIS, G. P.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Annals of Botany 78: 55-59, 1996
© 1996 Annals of Botany Company

Leaf Anatomy, Emphasizing Unusual ‘Concertina’ Mesophyll Cells, of Two East African Legumes (Caesalpinieae, Caesalpinioideae, Leguminosae)

JOHN D. CURTIS+, NELS R. LERSTEN and GWILYM P. LEWIS

Biology Department, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Stevens Point, WI 54481, U.S.A. Department of Botany, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, U.S.A. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AE, U.K.

September 1, 1995 ; January 9, 1996

Cordeauxia edulis (Somalia and Ethiopia), andStuhlmannia moavii (Tanzania, Kenya and Madagascar) are evergreen shrubs or small trees of dry areas. They have similar leaf anatomy as revealed by resin sectioning and scanning electron microscopy. The cuticle is extremely thick and all vascular bundles lack bundle sheath extensions. The most unusual feature is the mesophyll, three to seven layers consisting entirely of cylindrical palisade cells with lateral walls capable of changing vertical length by folding in a concertina-like manner. The matching outward folds of two adjacent cells always remain attached by means of a row of wall thickenings (‘pegs’). The pegs can elongate, especially so between the widely separated mesophyll cells that occupy the substomatal chamber area. The unattached flexible inward wall folds enable these ‘concertina’ cells to shorten or lengthen vertically without disrupting cell interconnections in the interior of each relatively long-lived leaf as it periodically loses and gains water. Concertina cells may be an anatomical adaptation allowing these leaves to remain evergreen and survive extended periods of drought and yet to store water quickly when it becomes available.

Leguminosae; Caesalpinioideae; Cordeauxia ; Stuhlmannia ; ‘concertina’ mesophyll cells; desert adaptation; hollow glandular trichomes; leaf anatomy; wall thickenings


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.