Abstract
Shrubby rheophytes are characterized by sympodial branching as well as the general characters of rheophytes. Paedorheophytes are woody rheophytes that are rheophytic in juvenile stages and resemble land plants at maturity. Although their leaf shape is believed to change gradually from narrow-lanceolate juvenile leaves to broadly lanceolate adult leaves, our field observations show that in Saraca declinata and Tristania whitiana, tropical paedorheophytes, have two and three classes of leaf shape, respectively, which change abruptly from one class to the other during the growth.
