Specialized

Leaf

SPECI
ALIZE
D
LEAVE
S

Specimen

Common
Name:
Tendrils

Scientific
Name:

Common
Name:
Insecttrapping
leaves

Scientific
Name:

Common
Name:
Spines
Scientific
Name:

Modification

Function

Illustration

Common
Name:
Storage
Leaves
Scientific
Name:

Common
Name:
Window
leaves
Scientific
Name:

Common
Name:
Floral leaves/
bract
Scientific
Name:

Common
Name:
Succulent
leaves
Scientific
Name:

1.

Insect-Trapping LeavesThese plants are always attention grabbers and have intrigued folks for centuries. Plants that trap
insects usually occur in swampy areas and bogs of tropical and temperate regions. Generally, the soil is lacking some vital ingredient
for life and the plants utilize trapped insects and small organisms to fill the gap. The captured prizes are dissolved and absorbed by the
plant. However, if insects are not available (i.e. a laboratory situation) the plants will develop if nutrients are given instead. The following
four plants represent the four main mechanisms of capture.

Pitcher Plantsdrowning trap

Sundewssticky trap
Venus Flytrapshinged trap
Bladderwortsunderwater trapdoor trap

1.

Window LeavesThere are at least three members of the Carpetweed family in the Kalahari desert with unique adaptations
to the sandy growing environment. These plants have leaves shaped like ice cream cones. The leaves are buried in the sand, leaving
the transparent dime-sized tip of the leaf exposed at the surface. The transparent surface is covered with a thick epidermis and cuticle
and has virtually no stomata. This arrangement allows light nearly direct access to the mesophyll with chloroplasts inside. The plant, for
the most part, is buried and away from drying winds and abrasive blowing sands. There are other examples of succulent plants with
window leaves.

1.

Storage LeavesSucculent leaves are leaves modified to retain and store water. Water storage is permitted because of the
thin-walled, non-chloroplast parenchyma cells just beneath the epidermis and to the interior of the chlorenchyma tissue. The vacuoles
in the non-photosynthetic cells store the extra water resources. There are plants with succulent leaves that have a special
photosynthetic process. We will look at these in a later tutorial. The fleshy leaves of onions and lily bulbs store large amounts of
carbohydrates which are utilized by the plant in the next growing season.

1.

TendrilsMany plants have modified leaf structures called tendrils that aid in climbing or supporting the plants weight.
Tendrils are very sensitive to contact and can be readily redirected based on touch and solid contact. Tendrils become coiled like
springs and when contact with a support structure is made, the tip not only coils around it but the tip direction reverses. It needs to be
noted that not all tendrils are modified leaves, tendrils of the grapevine, for example, are modified extensions of the stem tissue.

Storage leaves. Most plants store food in their roots or stems. However, some plants have special leaves
that hold extra food. Onion and tulip bulbs, for example, consist mainly of short, fat storage leaves called
bulb scales. These leaves cannot make food. Their job is to store food underground during the winter
months.