Amazonian tree with human-sized leaves finally gets ID’d as new species

Large leaves, so the theory goes, are more susceptible to extremes in temperature. The extra insulation around large leaves makes it harder for the leaf to extract heat from their surroundings at night, which means they risk suffering frost damage in cold climates. Large leaves are also poorly adapted to hot desserts, because they tend to overheat during the day. Under both these circumstances, small leaves are favoured.