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Microphylls and megaphylls

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have microphylls, as in all extant species there is only a single vascular trace in each leaf. These leaves are narrow because the width of the blade is limited by the distance water can efficiently diffuse cell-to-cell from the central vascular strand to the margin of the leaf. Despite their name,
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The simplistic evolutionary models, however, do not correspond well to evolutionary relationships. Some genera of ferns display complex leaves that are attached to the pseudostele by an outgrowth of the vascular bundle, leaving no leaf gap. Horsetails
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While the simple definitions (microphylls: one vein, macrophylls: more than one) can still be used in modern botany, the evolutionary history is harder to decipher.
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This article is about the classification based on leaf vasculature. For the terms "Microphyll" and "Megaphyll" as classifications of leaf size, see
198: 58:. Leaf gaps are small areas above the node of some leaves where there is no vascular tissue, as it has all been diverted to the leaf. 131:). The fossil record appears to display these traits in this order, but this may be a coincidence, as the record is incomplete. The 135:
proposes instead that both microphylls and megaphylls originated by the reduction; microphylls by reduction of a single
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WN Stewart & GW Rothwell (1993) Palaeobotany and the evolution of plants. 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press.
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record, and few such plants exist today. In the classical concept of a microphyll, the leaf vein emerges from the
441: 236: 436: 446: 368: 119:). Outgrowths of the protostele (the central vasculature) later emerged towards the enations (as in 395:
Qiu, Y.L.; Palmer, J.D. (1999). "Phylogeny of early land plants: insights from genes and genomes".
70: 288: 186: 412: 296: 404: 278: 162:, which has a (simple) protostele, and enations devoid of vascular tissue. Some species of 381: 153:
bear needles with only one vein, but these evolved later from plants with complex leaves.
51: 125:), and eventually continued to grow fully into the leaf to form the mid-vein (such as in 62:, in contrast, have multiple veins within the leaf and leaf gaps above them in the stem. 46:
with one single, unbranched leaf vein. Plants with microphyll leaves occur early in the
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have a single vascular trace that terminates at the base of the enations. Consequently,
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Taylor, T.N.; Taylor, E.L. (1993). "The biology and evolution of fossil plants".
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branch, and megaphylls by evolution from branched portions of a telome.
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How the Earth Turned Green: A Brief 3.8-Billion-Year History of Plants
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of megaphyllous organisms or have evolved more than once.
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of microphyll evolution posits that small outgrowths, or
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can reach 25 centimetres in length, and the extinct
225:resembling the microphylls of early land plants. 314: 312: 310: 8: 260: 258: 256: 254: 252: 74:Microphylls contain a single vascular trace. 321:Morphology and evolution of vascular plants 204:Megaphylls have a complex network of veins. 87:microphylls are not always small: those of 282: 319:Gifford E.M. & Foster, A.S. (1989). 185:It is not clear whether leaf gaps are a 174:" closely related to early land plants ( 248: 221:has secondarily lost leaves, and bears 194: 178:). However, genetic analysis has shown 377: 366: 7: 99:bore microphylls up to 78 cm long. 14: 209: 197: 156:An interesting case is that of 1: 409:10.1016/S1360-1385(98)01361-2 323:. WH Freeman, New York, USA. 463: 271:American Journal of Botany 170:was long thought to be a " 15: 237:Vegetation classification 397:Trends in Plant Science 376:Cite journal requires 182:to be a reduced fern. 75: 265:Kaplan, D.R. (2001). 73: 76: 54:without leaving a 277:(10): 1711–1741. 454: 442:Plant physiology 421: 420: 392: 386: 385: 379: 374: 372: 364: 360: 354: 351: 336: 331: 325: 324: 316: 305: 304: 286: 262: 213: 201: 187:homologous trait 66:Leaf vasculature 462: 461: 457: 456: 455: 453: 452: 451: 437:Leaf morphology 427: 426: 425: 424: 394: 393: 389: 375: 365: 362: 361: 357: 352: 339: 332: 328: 318: 317: 308: 284:10.2307/3558347 264: 263: 250: 245: 233: 226: 214: 205: 202: 105: 68: 39:) is a type of 21: 12: 11: 5: 460: 458: 450: 449: 444: 439: 429: 428: 423: 422: 387: 378:|journal= 355: 337: 326: 306: 247: 246: 244: 241: 240: 239: 232: 229: 228: 227: 215: 208: 206: 203: 196: 109:enation theory 104: 101: 67: 64: 13: 10: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 459: 448: 447:Plant anatomy 445: 443: 440: 438: 435: 434: 432: 418: 414: 410: 406: 402: 398: 391: 388: 383: 370: 359: 356: 350: 348: 346: 344: 342: 338: 335: 330: 327: 322: 315: 313: 311: 307: 302: 298: 294: 290: 285: 280: 276: 272: 268: 261: 259: 257: 255: 253: 249: 242: 238: 235: 234: 230: 224: 220: 219: 212: 207: 200: 195: 193: 190: 188: 183: 181: 177: 173: 172:living fossil 169: 165: 161: 160: 154: 152: 148: 147: 140: 138: 134: 133:telome theory 130: 129: 128:Baragwanathia 124: 123: 118: 117:Zosterophylls 114: 110: 102: 100: 98: 97: 96:Lepidodendron 92: 91: 85: 81: 72: 65: 63: 61: 57: 53: 49: 45: 42: 38: 34: 30: 26: 25:plant anatomy 19: 403:(1): 26–30. 400: 396: 390: 369:cite journal 358: 329: 320: 274: 270: 216: 191: 184: 179: 176:rhyniophytes 167: 163: 157: 155: 144: 141: 136: 132: 126: 120: 108: 106: 94: 88: 77: 59: 36: 32: 22: 151:gymnosperms 122:Asteroxylon 431:Categories 243:References 84:horsetails 80:clubmosses 60:Megaphylls 52:protostele 33:microphyll 146:Equisetum 103:Evolution 37:lycophyll 29:evolution 18:Leaf size 417:10234267 301:21669604 231:See also 223:enations 218:Psilotum 180:Psilotum 168:Psilotum 164:Psilotum 159:Psilotum 113:enations 56:leaf gap 293:3558347 90:Isoëtes 415:  299:  291:  137:telome 48:fossil 289:JSTOR 41:plant 413:PMID 382:help 297:PMID 107:The 82:and 78:The 44:leaf 35:(or 27:and 405:doi 279:doi 23:In 433:: 411:. 399:. 373:: 371:}} 367:{{ 340:^ 309:^ 295:. 287:. 275:88 273:. 269:. 251:^ 31:a 419:. 407:: 401:4 384:) 380:( 303:. 281:: 143:( 20:.

Index

Leaf size
plant anatomy
evolution
plant
leaf
fossil
protostele
leaf gap

clubmosses
horsetails
Isoëtes
Lepidodendron
enations
Zosterophylls
Asteroxylon
Baragwanathia
Equisetum
gymnosperms
Psilotum
living fossil
rhyniophytes
homologous trait
Megaphylls have a complex network of veins.
Psilotum has secondarily lost leaves, and bears enations resembling the microphylls of early land plants.
Psilotum
enations
Vegetation classification

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