Why Do Houseplants Have Holey Leaves?

Inspired by a plant in his office, a researcher created a mathematical model to explain why foliage holes could be a smart strategy.

By Mary Hoff|Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Monstera deliciosa, a tropical plant named for its aberrant leaf shape and tasty fruit, makes the most of the sunshine it receives with the unusual perforations in its leaves. 

Forest and Kim Starr/Wikimedia Commons




Muir proposed to solve the puzzle by creating a mathematical model that captures the relationship between a leaf’s shape, size and ability to intercept stray glints of sunlight that filter through the canopy. He saw that surface area wasn’t everything: By extending a leaf’s overall size while keeping living, energy-greedy matter to a minimum, the plant increases the odds that at least some of the splotchy sunlight will strike each leaf.

It’s a smart strategy. “If you have some resources you’re going to allocate to make a leaf, you can make it smaller but completely filled in, or make windows and take up a larger area,” Muir says. “If light is relatively random, it makes sense to spread the leaf area you have … to give you more chances to intercept those sun flecks.

[This article originally appeared in print as "O Holey Leaf."]

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