Conductive Capacities of Veins in Expanding Leaves of Quercus

Abstract

This paper considers the conductive capacity of vascular tissue in plant leaves. The present work is modelled after experiments by Wylie (1938) and Plymale and Wylie (1944), who cut away various portions of vascular tissue from mature leaves of several woody species growing on the University of Iowa campus. The cuts usually included midribs or other major veins. In spite of such seemingly drastic damage, the tissue distal to the cuts usually survived (especially in the genus Quercus, which pro-vided most of the material used in the present work).