On the strength, stiffness and stability of tubular plant stems and leaves

thin walled tubes of circular cross-section are efficient structural elements and thus, as would be expected, are not uncommon in plants, especially those which belong to the Monocotyledonae. Traditional analyses of the strength of these tubular members utilize formulae which were developed for isotropic materials. The present paper deals with the great influence of the high elastic anisotropy of the plant tissue on the mechanical behavior of such tubular stems and leaves in bending. It will be seen that under these circumstances the propensity of the tube to fail due to non-linear effects (deformation of the cross-section) is greatly increased.