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 ...

The spiky, iconic Canadian maple leaf. A large, lush Florida palm leaf. Thin aspen leaves rustling in the crisp Colorado air. You can probably recall many different leaf shapes from many different ...

“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 ...

Researchers know that the variation in leaf shapes can mean big differences in a farmer's bottom line. Now, a new discovery gives plant breeders key genetic information they need to develop crop ...

A cross between two distinct, true-breeding plants of Antirrhinum majus L. showed an unexpected pattern of inheritance of growth habit in the F2, which was extended to both growth habit and leaf shape ...

video: Professor Miltos Tsiantis from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne talks about his recent work in CELL showing how genes act to determine leaf shape. view more ...

Scientists have determined how key developmental genes influence growth of cells to produce such differences in leaf form. The researchers were able to make thale cress, which typically produces ...