Abstract
Based on measurements of 106 leaves of F. religiosa plants, the measured one-sided leaf area (LA) varied from 3.55 – 162.55cm2 (mean = 67.89 ± 4.42 cm2 ; CV = 64.43%). Allometrically, LA (cm2 ) was given as: LA = [0.362241.ℓ 0.916702 .b 0.662385] + [0.68987.L0.954921 .B 1.088545] where ℓ is the length of acumen and b is the base of acumen, L is the length of cordate part of lamina along midrib and B is the breadth of the lamina at the widest points in cm. On whole leaf blade basis the leaf blade area (LFA, cm2 ) was given by the equation: LFA = 0.691548.LF 0.625684.BF 1.33323 where LF is the total length of leaf blade along midrib (inclusive acumen) and BF is the breadth of lamina at the widest points in cm. LA, LFA, and leaf area determined through K factor determination (KFA) behaved statistically in similar manner and didn’t vary significantly with each other. Measured and estimated areas correlated highly significantly (r = 0.9940). Mature leaves were fairly consistent in shape. SLA averaged to 208.51 ± 6.78 cm2 .g -1 and varied substantially from 109.85 to 400.0 (CV: 33.5%) amongst the leaves investigated. SLA related negatively with LDMC and SLM. Four types of leaves were easily recognizable - red tender leaves, reddish green developing leaves, yellow green maturing leaves and dark green mature leaves. SLA, SLM, LDMC, succulence and moisture content of leaf were the plastic traits. Leaf area, leaf dry matter, LDMC and SLM increased significantly with the growth and maturity of the leaves. Pink tender leaves had higher SLA and conversely low LDMC and SLM. SLA was low in dark green mature leaves as compared to immature leaves. The tender leaves were more succulent than maturing and mature leaves. The moisture content of the leaves didn’t vary in juvenile red tender or maturing reddish green or yellow green leaves but significantly declined in mature dark green leaves.
