Abstract
IN flowering plants, a leaf primordium may be initially centric in shape1; but on further growth it becomes dorsiventral, a phenomenon of which the mechanism is but little understood. Results from experimental treatments of the shoot apex of the potato, Solanum tuberosum, shed new light on this phenomenon. The leaves arise in spiral sequence, with an average divergence angle of 138°. Primordia visible at the time of the operation will be called P1 and P2; P1 being the younger. The first leaf to arise after the operation, but initially invisible, will be called I1.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Snow, M., and Snow, R., Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., B, 221, 1 (1931).
Wardlaw, C. W., Nature, 164, 167 (1949).
Ball, E., Growth Symposium of Soc. for Exp. Biol., 246 (1948).
Versluys, M. C., Contribution 5 of the Laboratorium voor Planten-physiologisch Onderzoek, Wageningen (1921).
Lang, W. H., Mem. and Proc. Manchester Lit. and Phil. Soc., 68, 53 (1924).
Snow, M., and Snow, R., Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., B, 225, 63 (1935).
Wardlaw, C. W., Ann. Bot., N.S., 9, 383 (1945).
Wardlaw, C. W., Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., B, 232, 343 (1947).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
SUSSEX, I. Experiments on the Cause of Dorsiventrality in Leaves. Nature 167, 651–652 (1951). https://doi.org/10.1038/167651a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/167651a0
This article is cited by
-
Specification of leaf dorsiventrality via a prepatterned binary readout of a uniform auxin input
Nature Plants (2022)
-
Interplay between the shoot apical meristem and lateral organs
aBIOTECH (2020)
-
Positional cues regulate dorsal organ formation in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha
Journal of Plant Research (2020)
-
Mechanical regulation of organ asymmetry in leaves
Nature Plants (2017)
-
Meristem control of leaf patterning
Science China Life Sciences (2015)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
