Currently it is not known whether rice or the rice genome possesses sufficient ‘plasticity’ with respect to these morphological features. As an initial step, this study set out to identify mutants of rice with alterations in their vascular patterning and leaf morphology, in order to assess the extent to which the cellular architecture within the rice leaf can be altered and test the plasticity of the rice genome in being able to generate such variability. Such mutants with features that are reminiscent of Kranz anatomy within their leaf structure will be crucial to efforts to enhance manipulation of rice leaf architecture to phenocopy a Kranz-type anatomy.