Differences in Survival of Excised Ponderosa Pine Leaves of Various Ages

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Abstract
Leaves of Pinus ponderosa when allowed to stand in the laboratory, whether attached to cut branches or removed from them, showed definite gradations in rates of mortality with increasing age. The older the leaves, the more rapidly they died. Death was judged by a color change previously associated with a viability indicator. Weighing leaves at intervals showed that differential rates of dying were associated with loss of wt. which was more rapid in older leaves. Evidence is given that wt. loss is largely water.