Active space garnering by leaves of a rosette plant

Abstract

Near-ground growth offers low-statured plants many benefits but also exposes them to the risk of being overtopped and losing access to sunlight. Plant community development is often portrayed as a process of serial dominance by successively taller species, but here we describe a mechanism by which a low-growing rosette species alters community spatial structure. Elephantopus elatus (Asteraceae), an herbaceous savanna plant with low-growing leaves that emerge radially from a central bud, pushes neighboring plants away and thereby avoids being overtopped. Active pushing is possible because the leaves have stout petioles that are basally anchored rather than attached to flexible twigs or stems. This growth-mediated leaf pushing introduces a novel example of active plant interactions that is likely important for other rosette plants.