Variation of Leaf Epidermis Traits Duing Leaf Color Transformation in Loropetalum chinense var.rubrum

Loropetalum chinense Olive var.rubrum Yieh has been widely used to beautify cities and roads because of its red leaves,which,however,will turn green during summertime.This study was made on the leaf epidermis,trichomes,Stomata of red leaves,green leaves of L.chinense Olive var.rubrum and green leaves of its back mutation,and leaves of L.Olive.The results showed: ① Trichomes of L.chinense and its variation were composed of single cells.Some were simple trichomes,some were 2 or more armed,of which most were simple and 2 to 4 armed.The trichomes distributed on the down-epidermis were more than those on the up-epidermis.② The distribution rule of trichomes on the leaves of L.chinense was the same as that on the red leaves of L.chinense var.rubrum,and on the green leaves of L.chinense var.rubrum was the same as that on the leaves of back mutation.After turning green,the number of trichomes on the leaves epidermis decreased dramatically.③ After red leaves turned green,up-epidermis cell size shrank remarkably,while down-epidermis cell size and stomata increased slightly,and stomata index changed little.