The Potential Roles of Unique Leaf Structure for the Adaptation of Maxim. ex Balf. in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

Leaves are essential plant organs with numerous variations in shape and size. The leaf size is generally smaller in plants that thrive in areas of higher elevation and lower annual mean temperature. The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is situated at an altitude of >4000 m with relatively low annual average temperatures. Most plant species found on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau have small leaves, with Maxim. ex Balf. being an exception. Here, we show that the large leaves of with a unique three-dimensional (3D) shape are potentially an ideal solution for thermoregulation with little energy consumption. With the increase in age, the shape of leaves changed from a small oval plane to a large palmatipartite 3D shape. Therefore, is a highly heteroblastic species. The leaf shape change during the transition from the juvenile to the adult phase of the development in is a striking example of the manifestation of plant phenotypic plasticity. The temperature variation in different parts of the leaf was a distinct character of leaves of over-5-year-old plants. The temperature of single-plane leaves under strong solar radiation could accumulate heat rapidly and resulted in temperatures much higher than the ambient temperature. However, leaves of over-5-year-old plants could lower leaf temperature by avoiding direct exposure to solar radiation and promoting local airflow to prevent serious tissue damage by sunburn. Furthermore, the net photosynthesis rate was correlated with the heterogeneity of the leaf surface temperature. Our results demonstrate that the robust 3D shape of the leaf is a strategy that has developed evolutionarily to adapt to the strong solar radiation and low temperature on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.