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A plant cuticle is a protecting film covering the outermost skin layer of leaves, young shoots and other aerial plant organs (aerial here meaning all plant parts not embedded in soil or other substrate) that have no periderm. The film consists of lipid and hydrocarbon polymers infused with wax, and is synthesized exclusively by the epidermal cells.
Cuticle analysis, also known as fossil cuticle analysis and cuticular analysis, is an archaeobotanical method that uses plant cuticles to reconstruct the vegetation of past grassy environments. Cuticles comprise the protective layer of the skin, or epidermis , of leaves and blades of grass.
Plants that live in range of sea's spray also may have thicker cuticles that protect them from the toxic effects of salt. Some plants, particularly those adapted to life in damp or aquatic environments, have an extreme resistance to wetting. A well-known example is the sacred lotus. [7]
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. Surface wax acts as a moisture barrier and protects the plant from intense sunlight and wind. [5] Diagram of fine scale leaf internal anatomy
Upon entry of a pathogen, plants are vulnerable to infection and lose a fair amount of nutrients to said pathogen. The constitutive defenses are the physical barriers of the plant; including the cuticle or even the metabolites that act toxic and deter herbivores. Plants maintain an ability to sense when they have an injured area and induce a ...
Presence of plant cuticle: A waxy cuticle is relatively impermeable to water and water vapor and reduces evaporation from the plant surface except via the stomata. A reflective cuticle will reduce solar heating and temperature rise of the leaf, helping to reduce the rate of evaporation.
Mosses are examples of non-vascular plants. Non-vascular plants are plants without a vascular system consisting of xylem and phloem. Instead, they may possess simpler tissues that have specialized functions for the internal transport of water. [citation needed] Non-vascular plants include two distantly related groups:
Seed plants, which first appeared in the fossil record towards the end of the Paleozoic era, reproduce using desiccation-resistant capsules called seeds. Starting from a plant which disperses by spores, highly complex changes are needed to produce seeds. The sporophyte has two kinds of spore-forming organs or sporangia.