MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LEAF OF DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENT STAGES OF LATE SUCCESSIONAL CANOPY TREE SPECIES IN A SRI LANKAN LOWLAND RAIN FOREST

Abstract

This study examined the morphological characteristics of four development stages of fourcanopy species belong to two families that have been characterized as late successional.Variations in leaf morphological characters were studied among seedlings (50 cm inheight), saplings (2 - 5.5 m height), pole size (15 - 20 m height) and mature trees (>25 mheight). Two species belong to family Clusiaceae tMesua ferrea, Mesua nagassarium) andtwo species belong to the family Dipterocarpaceae (Shorea worthington ii, Shoreamegistophylla). Sample leaves were collected from Sinharaja, a forest located in thesouthwest lowland wet zone of Sri Lanka. Morphological characters measured were leafarea, leaf length, leaf width and length of drip tip. To study these characters tenindividuals were taken for each development stage of a species. Three leaves were sampledfrom an individual and leaf length, leaf area, leaf width and length of drip tip weremeasured for each leaf.

Data were analysed using a one way ANOV A and Tukey's studentised range to determinedifferences among development stages at 5% significance level. Results indicate thatsaplings of all species had the highest leaf area, leaf length and leaf width. Seedlings hadthe highest length of drip tip.

This study revealed that there are morphological variations within a species of latesuccessional canopy tree species