Leaf Trace


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leaf trace

[′lēf ‚trās]
(botany)
A section of the vascular bundle that leads from the stele to the base of the leaf.

Leaf Trace

 

a vascular bundle in the stem of a plant that directly connects the stem with a leaf. Depending on the plant species, one or several leaf traces may be associated with each leaf. From the base of the leaf down through the stem, the leaf trace passes through several internodes that correspond to the particular leaf arrangement and encounters and merges with other leaf traces that lead to previously developed leaves. Thus, a unified network of conducting bundles is formed in the shoot. Some vascular plants, such as lycopods, have small simple leaves (microphylls) with weak leaf traces that do not reach the conducting cylinder of the stem. The macrophyllous leaves of the Polypodiaceae, Gymnospermae, and Angiospermae have large leaf traces and are characterized by numerous leaf gaps.

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References in periodicals archive ?
Blechnum cordatum has multiple leaf trace stipes, with 14-16 vascular strands in adult stages, but plantlets iniciate with 3 vascular strands only, and the number of strands increases with age (Prada et al.
Sporophyte morphology and gametophyte development of the fern Blechnum sprucei (Pteridophyta: Blechnaceae)
The primary vasculature is non-sympodial, and primary xylem only occurs as the downward extension of mesarch leaf traces (Fig.
Anatomically-preserved cordaitalean trees from Lower Pennsylvanian (Langsettian) dryland alluvial-plain deposits at Joggins, Nova Scotia
The parenchymatous cortex has idioblasts, abundant mucilage ducts, and oblique, semigirdling leaf traces [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 5C OMITTED].
Fossil Cycadales of Argentina

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