Plants with purple abaxial leaves: A repository of metrics from stomata distribution

Abstract

AbstractPlants with purple abaxial leaf surfaces are very common in nature but the ecophysiological aspects of this phenotype are not well known. We have shown that the purple color of the abaxial surfaces generates an interesting contrast between the color of the stomata arranged on the epidermis, generally green, and the purple color of the pavement. This contrast makes the stomata completely visible to optic microscopy of the extant plants. This phenomenon made possible the proposition of a strategy to measure the distance between the stomata of the layer. The measurement of the distance between stomata generates accurate information of the distribution of stomata on the epidermis of living purple plants. In future ecophysiological inferences will be established from the information brought about by the measurements of the distance between stomata in purple plants.