Plants follow different pathways in response to the environment or phases of life to form different kinds of structures. This ability is called plasticity, e.g., heterophylly in cotton, coriander and larkspur. In such plants, the leaves of the juvenile plant are different in shape from those in mature plants. On the other hand, differences in shapes of leaves produced in air and those produced in water in buttercup also represent the heterophyllous development due to the environment. This phenomenon of heterophylly is an example of plasticity.