We investigated whole-plant leaf area in relation to ontogenetic variation in leaf-size for a forest perennial herb, Cardiocrinum cordatum.The 200-fold ontogenetic variability in C.cordatum leaf area followed a power-law dependence on total leaf number, a measure of developmental stage.When we normalized for plant size, the guerlain ideal cologne function describing the size of single leaves along the stem was similar among different-sized plants, implying that the different-sized canopies observed at different times in the growth trajectory were fundamentally similar to each other.
We conclude that 3m speedglas 9002nc the growth trajectory of a population of C.cordatum plant leaves obeyed a dynamic scaling law, the first reported for a growth trajectory at the whole-plant level.