3.1 General anatomy of Austrobaileya scandens
A. scandens are evergreen vines with long stems with opposite leaves and branches (Figure 1a,b; see also Bailey & Swamy, 1949; Metcalfe, 1987; Feild et al., 2003b). The self-supported young apical branches are cylindrical, flexible, and about 2mm diameter (Figure 1c). These young stems harden around 10cm back from the tip and acquire an elliptical shape, coincident with their coiling around a solid support (Figure 1d). Despite the minimal variation of branch diameter, leaves expand exponentially along the coiled stems, reaching a maximum area at the seventh and older nodes, thus forming thick leaf canopy (Figure 1e).