The epidermis (from the Greek ἐπιδερμίς, meaning "over-skin") is a single layer of cells that covers the leaves, flowers, roots and stems of plants. It forms a boundary between the plant and the external environment. The epidermis serves several functions: it protects against water loss, regulates gas exchange, secretes metabolic compounds, and (especially in roots) absorbs water and mineral nutrients. The epidermis of most leaves shows dorsoventral anatomy: the upper (adaxial) and lower (abaxial) surfaces have somewhat different construction and may serve different functions. Woody stems and some other stem structures such as potato tubers produce a secondary covering called the periderm that replaces the epidermis as the protective covering.
The epidermis is the outermost cell layer of the primary plant body. In some older works the cells of the leaf epidermis have been regarded as specialized parenchyma cells, but the established modern preference has long been to classify the epidermis as dermal tissue, whereas parenchyma is classified as ground tissue. The epidermis is the main component of the dermal tissue system of leaves (diagrammed below), and also stems, roots, flowers, fruits, and seeds; it is usually transparent (epidermal cells have fewer chloroplasts or lack them completely, except for the guard cells.)
The cells of the epidermis are structurally and functionally variable. Most plants have an epidermis that is a single cell layer thick. Some plants like Ficus elastica and Peperomia, which have a periclinal cellular division within the protoderm of the leaves, have an epidermis with multiple cell layers. Epidermal cells are tightly linked to each other and provide mechanical strength and protection to the plant. The walls of the epidermal cells of the above-ground parts of plants contain cutin, and are covered with a cuticle. The cuticle reduces water loss to the atmosphere, it is sometimes covered with wax in smooth sheets, granules, plates, tubes, or filaments. The wax layers give some plants a whitish or bluish surface color.
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Explores evapotranspiration mechanisms, energy balance formulations, and methods for estimating water vapor release rates, emphasizing the role of vegetation and meteorological data.
A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, flower, and fruit collectively form the shoot system. In most leaves, the primary photosynthetic tissue is the palisade mesophyll and is located on the upper side of the blade or lamina of the leaf but in some species, including the mature foliage of Eucalyptus, palisade mesophyll is present on both sides and the leaves are said to be isobilateral.
Bast fibre (also called phloem fibre or skin fibre) is plant fibre collected from the phloem (the "inner bark", sometimes called "skin") or bast surrounding the stem of certain dicotyledonous plants. It supports the conductive cells of the phloem and provides strength to the stem. Some of the economically important bast fibres are obtained from herbs cultivated in agriculture, as for instance flax, hemp, or ramie, but bast fibres from wild plants, as stinging nettle, and trees such as lime or linden, willow, oak, wisteria, and mulberry have also been used in the past.
A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant, the other being the root. It supports leaves, flowers and fruits, transports water and dissolved substances between the roots and the shoots in the xylem and phloem, stores nutrients, and produces new living tissue. The stem can also be called halm or haulm or culms. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes: The nodes hold one or more leaves, as well as buds which can grow into branches (with leaves, conifer cones, or flowers).
Here, we report photonic nanostructures replicated from the adaxial epidermis of flower petals onto light-polymerized coatings using low-cost nanoimprint lithography at ambient temperature. These multifunctional nanocoatings are applied to confer enhanced ...
ELSEVIER2022
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Climate change is predicted to increase atmospheric vapor pressure deficit, exacerbating soil drought, and thus enhancing tree evaporative demand and mortality. Yet, few studies have addressed the longer-term drought acclimation strategy of trees, particul ...
Oxford2024
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Mountain ecosystems are particularly threatened by ongoing climate change and the species composition of high elevation grasslands is already changing. An open research question is how these ecosystems will adapt to changes in their key environmental const ...