Why do some thorny plants resemble green zebras?
The rosette and cauline leaves of the highly thorny winter annual plant species of the Asteraceae in Israel (Silybum marianum) resemble green zebras. The widths of typical variegation bands were measured and found to be highly correlated with leaf length, length of the longest spines at leaf margins and the number of spines along leaf circumference. Thus, there is a significant correlation between the spinyness and strength of variegation. I propose that this is a special case of aposematic (warning) coloration.
Lev-Yadun
Simcha
S
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Science Education, University of Haifa, Oranim, Tivon 36006, Israel. levyadun@research.haifa.ac.il
D000818:Animals; D019659:Asteraceae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D010858:Pigmentation; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D011235:Predatory Behavior