. 2003 Jan;91(1):39–48. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcg006

Table 1.

Mean internodes, pith diameters of metamers and ratio of secondary rib length : midrib length (RL2/RL1) of each leaf corresponding to these metamers, located in different axis parts for individuals at different developmental stages

Stage	Part	Internode length (mm)	Pith diameter (mm)	RL2 : RL1
a	1	10·1 ± 4·13^a	0·89 ± 0·10^a	0·35 ± 0·05^a
b	1α	54·6 ± 8·96^b	1·19 ± 0·15^b	0·43 ± 0·02^bc
	1β	37·3 ± 9·24^c	1·00 ± 0·16^ab	0·41 ± 0·02^b
c	1α	127·8 ± 18·31^d	1·57 ± 0·23^c	0·48 ± 0·02^d
	1β	57·4 ± 12·01^b	1·09 ± 0·12^b	0·45 ± 0·03^c
d	1α	164·6 ± 22·73^ef	4·51 ± 0·53^d	0·56 ± 0·01^e
	1β	102·4 ± 11·25^g	2·54 ± 0·30^e	0·53 ± 0·03^f
e	1α	266·0 ± 22·66^h	9·73 ± 0·96^f	0·62 ± 0·02^g
	1β	178·0 ± 9·31^f	8·58 ± 1·13^f	0·62 ± 0·03^g
	2	140·3 ± 15·08^de	6·45 ± 1·23^g	0·60 ± 0·04^eg
	3	232·3 ± 8·97ⁱ	3·02 ± 0·31^h	0·62 ± 0·03^g
	4	3·6 ± 0·47^j	6·09 ± 0·55^g

a–e Represent the five developmental stages analysed. One axis can be divided into four distinct parts: an ascending or self‐supporting part (1), a transition part (2), a bending or lianescent part (3) and a terrestrial layering part (4). Only part 1 was subdivided further into a median part, α, and a part located at the end of part 1, β. In each part (1α, 1β, 2, 3, 4), four metamers found in a median position were selected. Means of the parameters were then calculated on the basis of these metamers. A 95 % confidence interval was associated with each mean. The metamer means for the five plant groups (Mann–Whitney U test) are represented by the letters a, b, c, d and e. Different superscript letters within a column indicate that the corresponding distribution is significantly different at the 95 % threshold.