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The Leaf

Plant leaves develop from meristematic tissues and serve as the chief food-producing organ in most plants. Leaves contain stomata that regulate gas and water transport and photosynthesis occurs in leaves, producing oxygen and food for the plant and other organisms. Leaves also transport and store food, induce flowering, and have specialized structures and functions in different plants.

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Donnaycia Carnegie
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29 views

The Leaf

Plant leaves develop from meristematic tissues and serve as the chief food-producing organ in most plants. Leaves contain stomata that regulate gas and water transport and photosynthesis occurs in leaves, producing oxygen and food for the plant and other organisms. Leaves also transport and store food, induce flowering, and have specialized structures and functions in different plants.

Uploaded by

Donnaycia Carnegie
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The leaf

The structure of the leaf


The function of the leaf
The plant leaves are lateral outgrowth of the stem which
develops from the meristematic tissues of buds. They are the
part of the plant shoot which serves as the chief food-
producing organ in most vascular plants. To perform this
function more efficiently, they are arranged on the stem and
oriented as to allow maximum absorption of sunlight. Plant
leaves have many variations and one may differ from another
even within the same plant. Image shows a portion of the
compound leaf (frond) of coconut. The leaves may be
considered as the most important life-giving part of the plant
body. The carbohydrate that is produced in the leaves in the
process of photosynthesis sustains animal life, both directly
and indirectly. This organic compound contains the energy
which the plant obtains from the sun, the same energy that
powers animal and human life. Likewise, the oxygen that
plant leaves give off is essential to the continuing existence
of animals and other aerobic organisms.

An important feature of leaves is the presence of stomata or


stomates (sing. stoma). Each stoma consists of a tiny pore
surrounded by two specialized, sausage-shaped eepidermal
cells called guard cells. These tiny pores open and close to
regulate the passage of gases and water to and from the
leaves. Stomata are located mostly on the undersides of
leaves, but they are also present on the epidermis of other
plant organs such as the stems, flowers and fruit. Leaves
occur in various types according to size, shape, colour,
texture, form and other characters. This plant leaf of an
unidentified tree has reddish veins and veinlet.

Photosynthesis
The process of producing food, known as photosynthesis,
mainly occurs in the leaves of most angiosperms. This
process essentially involves the absorption of light mainly
by the chlorophyll pigments and the absorption of carbon
dioxide via the stomatal pores in the leaves. As a result of
the cleavage of the water molecule during photosynthesis,
oxygen is generated and released to the atmosphere.

Transpiration

Plants lose a large volume of water through the leaves in the


form of vapour. The exit of water is through the stomata and
the cuticle, but stomatal transpiration is largely more
dominant than cuticular transpiration. It is estimated that the
loss of water via stomata through the process of transpiration
exceeds 90 percent of the water absorbed by the
roots.Transpiration may be advantageous to the plant because
of its cooling effect resulting from the expenditure of a
portion of the plant’s heat energy in converting liquid water
to water vapour. There is wide support also that transpiration
pull is responsible for the continuous ascent of water and
nutrients from the roots to the topmost parts of trees. But
this process can be a disadvantage to the plant if
transpiration loss exceeds the rate of water absorption
through the roots.

Floral Induction

The plant leaves synthesize and translocate the flower-


inducing hormone called florigen to the buds.

Food Storage

The leaves serve as food storage organ of the plant both


temporarily and on long-term basis. Under favourable
conditions, the rate of photosynthesis may exceed that of
translocation of photosynthesis toward other organs. During
the daytime, sugars accumulate in the leaves and starch is
synthesized and stored in the chloroplasts. At night-time, the
starch is hydrolysed to glucose and respired or converted to
transportable forms like sucrose.

It has been demonstrated also that food is stored in the leaves


until they senesce. This food is exported to the stem before
leaf fall and utilized in the subsequent shoot development.

Special uses

In banana, the leaf sheaths provide the physical support,


oftenly called pseudo stem, to raise the leaves upward. In a
few insect-eating plants such as the pitcher plant, Venus fly-
trap and sundew, plant leaves are so modified to trap visiting
insects, then releasing enzymes and digesting them for their
protein which is a source of nutrition. In some plants such as
Bryophyllum and Kalanchoe, the leaves are used for asexual
reproduction (click here for examples of plants that can be
propagated by leaf cuttings).
Modificated versions of the
leaf
Leaf-spines:
Leaves of certain plants become wholly or partially modified
for defensive purpose into sharp, pointed structures known as
spines. Thus, in prickly pear the minute leaves of the axillary
bud are modified into spines. The leaf-apex in date-palm,
dagger plant (Yucca) etc., is so modified, while in plants like
prickly or Mexican poppy (Agrimony), American aloe
(Agave), Indian aloe (Aloe), etc., spines develop on the
margin as well as at the apex. In barberry the leaf itself
becomes modified into a spine; while the leaves of the
axillary bud are normal.
Scale-leaves:

Typically these are thin, dry, stalkless, membranous


structures, usually brownish in colour or sometimes
colourless. Their function is to protect the axillary bud that
they bear in their axil. Sometimes scale-leaves are thick and
fleshy, as in/onion; then their function is to store up water
and food. Scale-leaves are common in parasites, saprophytes,
underground stems, etc. They are also found in Casuarina,
Asparagus etc.

Bud scale:
Bud scales are modified leaves or leaf based which protect
the young leaves inside them.

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