Article
Version 1
Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed
The Variable Chirality of Plant Twining Stems
Version 1
: Received: 12 December 2023 / Approved: 27 December 2023 / Online: 27 December 2023 (04:59:20 CET)
How to cite: Guo, Y. The Variable Chirality of Plant Twining Stems. Preprints 2023, 2023122041. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202312.2041.v1 Guo, Y. The Variable Chirality of Plant Twining Stems. Preprints 2023, 2023122041. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202312.2041.v1
Abstract
Twining stems are an important form of plant stems. Twining stems can exhibit two different chiralities: right-handed and left-handed, with right-handed twining stems being much more common than left-handed ones. The determination of chirality in twining stems has always been a fascinating topic. Many people believe that the direction of twining stems in a given species is fixed, but this is not the case. Some species have twining stems that exhibit both chirality types, i.e. the chirality is variable. Moreover, such species or genera are not rare and can be commonly encountered in everyday life. Here, we report the presence of variable-chirality twining stems (VCTS) in several species or genera within the Asteraceae, Campanulaceae, Rubiaceae, Lamiaceae, Polygonaceae, Santalaceae, and Ranunculaceae families, including common plants such as Mikania micrantha and Pleuropterus multiflorus. VCTS is an objectively existing phenomenon, but often overlooked. Understanding and accepting this concept will greatly assist future research in this field.
Keywords
twining stem; chirality; direction; left-handed; right-handed
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Plant Sciences
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Comments (0)
We encourage comments and feedback from a broad range of readers. See criteria for comments and our Diversity statement.
Leave a public commentSend a private comment to the author(s)
* All users must log in before leaving a comment
