spinach leaves, famed for boosting a certain animated sailor's muscle power, could be used to drive ultra-small electronic devices, it was disclosed yesterday.

Scientists are hoping to use tiny natural energy ''generators'' found in green plants as power supplies for molecular-scale machines.

Early experiments are being conducted with the chemical reactors that carry out photosynthesis in spinach, New Scientist magazine reported.

Spinach leaves, used to such devastating effect by Popeye, are especially rich in the energy centres. Researchers led by Elias Greenbaum in Tennessee, in the United States, have been extracting the tiny generators, which measure just six-millionths of a millimetre across.

In photosynthesis, plants turn carbon dioxide, water and minerals into oxygen and energy-rich carbohydrates. With the help of chlorophyll and sunlight, an electrical current is set up. It is this potential power source the scientists are trying to tap.

Despite their tiny size, the energy centres can in principle produce as much as one volt of electrical power.

''Eventually Greenbaum hopes the reaction centres will be used as tiny photobatteries powered by the incoming light,'' said the magazine.