Patterning of leaf spots was analyzed in the pond lily (Nymphaea oradrata Ait.) and the spotted dracaena (Dracaena godseffiana Sander) and compared to that in the maize(Zea mays )aleurone from reverse transposition. Aleurone sectors are clearly cell lineages because (a) the number of cells follows expected geometric distribution when sizes, as log 2 number of cells, of lineages are plotted against frequency and (b) the shapes are somewhat quadrilateral. Red spots on the pond lily leaf also follow a pattern expected of cell lineages by the shape of the areas, however, their frequencies of sizes of spots unexpectedly follow a normal distribution. These red-celled clones come from a daughter cell with an oriented specialized cell plate. By contrast, the yellow regions of the spotted laurel are circular instead of quadrilateral suggesting they do not come from a cell lineage process but by diffusion of a chloroplast inhibitor from a central source cell.

Key words: clones, leaf, mosaic, motlling, pattern