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Plants may use trichomes in order to deter herbivore attacks via physical and/or chemical means, e.g. in specialized, stinging hairs of Urtica (Nettle) species that deliver inflammatory chemicals such as histamine. Studies on trichomes have been focused towards crop protection, which is the result of deterring herbivores (Brookes et al. 2016). [24]
Prickles on a blackberry branch. In plant morphology, thorns, spines, and prickles, and in general spinose structures (sometimes called spinose teeth or spinose apical processes), are hard, rigid extensions or modifications of leaves, roots, stems, or buds with sharp, stiff ends, and generally serve the same function: physically defending plants against herbivory.
A plant which completes its life cycle (i.e. germinates, reproduces, and dies) within two years or growing seasons. Biennial plants usually form a basal rosette of leaves in the first year and then flower and fruit in the second year. bifid Forked; cut in two for about half its length. Compare trifid. bifoliate
Plants may bear either all bisexual flowers (hermaphroditic), both male and female flowers (monoecious), or only one sex (dioecious), in which case separate plants are either male or female flower-bearing. Where both bisexual and unisexual flowers exist on the same plant, it is called polygamous.
Botany is a natural science concerned with the study of plants.The main branches of botany (also referred to as "plant science") are commonly divided into three groups: core topics, concerned with the study of the fundamental natural phenomena and processes of plant life, the classification and description of plant diversity; applied topics which study the ways in which plants may be used for ...
Stiff hairs or trichomes without the ability to inject irritating compounds occur on the leaves and stems of many plants. They appear to deter feeding insects to some degree by impeding movement and restricting access to the surface of the stem or leaf. Some plants have glandular hairs, either as well as non-glandular hairs or instead of them.
Although trichomes are used for protection, they can be disadvantageous for plants at times because trichomes may reflect light away from the plant that can be used to photosynthesize. [2] The cuticle is a layered structure of waxes and hydrocarbons located on the outer layer of the epidermis which also helps protect the plant from stress. [2]
A sundew with a leaf bent around a fly trapped by mucilage. Mucilage is a thick gluey substance produced by nearly all plants and some microorganisms.These microorganisms include protists which use it for their locomotion, with the direction of their movement always opposite to that of the secretion of mucilage. [1]