ArticleAnnals of botany2024
Living jewels: iterative evolution of iridescent blue leaves from helicoidal cell walls.
Article in Annals of botany, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Structural colour in red seaweeds is more common and diverse than has been presumed.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Review
- Polysaccharide Nanocrystals-Based Chiral Nematic Structures: From Self-Assembly Mechanisms, Regulation, to Applications.ACS nano · 2024Review
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9 authors.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsStructural colour is responsible for the remarkable metallic blue colour seen in the leaves of several plants. Species belonging to only ten genera have been investigated to date, revealing four photonic structures responsible for structurally coloured leaves. One of these is the helicoidal cell wall, known to create structural colour in the leaf cells of five taxa. Here we investigate a broad selection of land plants to understand the phylogenetic distribution of this photonic structure in leaves.
methodsWe identified helicoidal structures in the leaf epidermal cells of 19 species using transmission electron microscopy. Pitch measurements of the helicoids were compared with the reflectance spectra of circularly polarized light from the cells to confirm the structure-colour relationship.
resultsBy incorporating species examined with a polarizing filter, our results increase the number of taxa with photonic helicoidal cell walls to species belonging to at least 35 genera. These include 19 monocot genera, from the orders Asparagales (Orchidaceae) and Poales (Cyperaceae, Eriocaulaceae, Rapateaceae) and 16 fern genera, from the orders Marattiales (Marattiaceae), Schizaeales (Anemiaceae) and Polypodiales (Blechnaceae, Dryopteridaceae, Lomariopsidaceae, Polypodiaceae, Pteridaceae, Tectariaceae).
conclusionsOur investigation adds considerably to the recorded diversity of plants with structurally coloured leaves. The iterative evolution of photonic helicoidal walls has resulted in a broad phylogenetic distribution, centred on ferns and monocots. We speculate that the primary function of the helicoidal wall is to provide strength and support, so structural colour could have evolved as a potentially beneficial chance function of this structure.
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