Luigi d’Aquino, Frond emission from pinnae tips in Nephrolepis cordifolia, Journal of Advances in Plant Biology, Volume 1, Issue 4, 2026, Pages 20-25, ISSN 2638-4469, https://doi.org/10.14302/issn.2638-4469.japb-26-6401.
(https://www.oap-bioscience.org/advances-in-plant-biology/article/frond-emission-from-pinnae-tips-in-nephrolepis-cordifolia-2395)
Abstract: The emission of completely developed secondary fronds from pinnae tips is described for the first time in a fern belonging to the species Nephrolepis cordifolia. The phenotype described in the paper has so far been reported very rarely and only in other Nephrolepisspecies. The phenotype demonstrates that the development of a whole frond from the apex of a secondary leaf is possible and it can be related to an alteration in the meristematic activity of the pinna apex. The stability of the phenotype over time, the occurrence of all the developmental stages of the phenotype in the same frond and the recurring appearance of the phenomenon in plants propagated from the original individual make the germplasm described in this work a plant model suitable for investigating leaf morphological plasticity in plants.
Keywords: Polypodiopsida; ferns; leaf morphology; leaf morphogenesis