Adaptative Characteristics of Some Woody Plants Growing on the Rock Faces ( 1 ) - Morphological Adaptation of Leaves

암반지에 서식하는 식물의 적응적 특성 ( 1 ) - 잎의 형태적 적응

Some morphological characteristics were investigated on the leaves of quercus aliena, hypostomatous species, and lespedeza cyrtobotrya, amphistomatous species, that appeared dominantly on the rock faces in mt.pukhan, mt surak and mt. pulam near seoul. These characteristics were compared with those of normal sites rock faces. All two species growing on the rock faces had thickened leaves with well developed upper epidermis and palisade tissue. Quercus aliena growing on the rock faces showed the leaves with double layer of palisade cells and more regularly arranged spongy parenchyma cells to the lower epidermis. In the case of lespedeza cyrtobotrya, narrower and more lengthened palisade cells and smaller air gaps between the sponge parenchyma cells were observed on the rock faces than those growing in the normal sites. The stomater frequency of the lower epidermis of the tree leaves growing on the rock faces is higher thanthose of normal sites. However, the mean total stomata number of the tree leaves growing on the rock faces are fewer. Most of the morphological characteristics investigated indicate that the plants on the rock faces havesmaller coefficient of variation than those of the normal sites.