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Abstract The leaf economics spectrum (LES) characterizes a tradeoff between building a leaf for durability versus for energy capture and gas exchange, with allocation to leaf dry mass per projected surface area (LMA) being a key trait underlying this tradeoff. However, regardless of the biomass supporting the leaf, high rates of gas exchange are typically accomplished by small, densely packed stomata on the leaf surface, which is enabled by smaller genome sizes. Here, we investigate how variation in genome size‐cell size allometry interacts with variation in biomass allocation (i.e. LMA) to influence the maximum surface conductance to CO₂and the rate of resource turnover as measured by leaf water residence time. We sampled both evergreen and deciduousRhododendron(Ericaceae) taxa from wild populations and botanical gardens, including naturally occurring putative hybrids and artificially generated hybrids. We measured genome size, anatomical traits related to cell sizes, and morphological traits related to water content and dry mass allocation. Consistent with the LES, higher LMA was associated with slower water residence times, and LMA was strongly associated with leaf thickness. Although anatomical and morphological traits varied orthogonally to each other, cell size had a pervasive impact on leaf functional anatomy: for a given leaf thickness, reducing cell size elevated the leaf surface conductance and shortened the mean water residence time. These analyses clarify how anatomical traits related to genome size‐cell size allometry can influence leaf function independently of morphological traits related to leaf longevity and durability. 

Abstract Interconduit pit membranes, which are permeable regions in the primary cell wall that connect to adjacent conduits, play a crucial role in water relations and the movement of nutrients between xylem conduits. However, how pit membrane characteristics might influence water‐carbon coupling remains poorly investigated in cycads. We examined pit characteristics, the anatomical and photosynthetic traits of 13 cycads from a common garden, to determine if pit traits and their coordination are related to water relations and carbon economy. We found that the pit traits of cycads were highly variable and that cycads exhibited a similar tradeoff between pit density and pit area as other plant lineages. Unlike other plant lineages (1) pit membranes, pit apertures, and pit shapes of cycads were not coordinated as in angiosperms; (2) cycads exhibited larger pit membrane areas but lower pit densities relative to ferns and angiosperms, but smaller and similar pit membrane densities to non‐cycad gymnosperms; (3) cycad pit membrane areas and densities were partially coordinated with anatomical traits, with hydraulic supply of the rachis positively coordinated with photosynthesis, whereas pit aperture areas and fractions were negatively coordinated with photosynthetic traits; (4) cycad pit traits reflected adaptation to wetter habitats for Cycadaceae and drier habitats for Zamiaceae. The large variation in pit traits, the unique pit membrane size and density, and the partial coordination of pit traits with anatomical and physiological traits of the rachis and pinna among cycads may have facilitated their dominance in a variety of ecosystems from the Mesozoic to modern times.