Leaf mosaic

Leaf mosaic is the way leaves on a shoot fit together and adjust their orientation so that, as a group, they capture the maximum possible sunlight with the least overlap between neighbouring leaves. This is commonly achieved by petiole length: the lower leaves on a shoot have progressively longer petioles while the successive upper leaves have progressively shorter ones, so that the whole set of leaves forms an efficient, non-overlapping mosaic when viewed fr …