Since I know many that are participants on Daffnet are very experienced horticulturalists, and some are also academia in the general field of botany, etc., I have a question, please. It is not daffodil related. Apologies.
I am guessing that there is a descriptive term for a plant that seems to “bead” water on its foliage. Such a plant that comes to mind is Variegated Solomon’s Seal, Polygonatum falcatum ‘Variegatum’ and sometimes you see it as Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegatum’. Another plant that exhibits this quality is the southeastern US native aquatic plant, commonly called “Golden Club or “Never-wet”, Orontium aquaticum. Sorry, I can’t come up with any other examples of plants I’ve noticed this beading on, at the moment. What is the descriptive horticultural or botanical term for this effect of “beading’? I find this quality to be very appealing in plants. You can douse it with water and the foliage never seems to be wet. I’ve seen lots of descriptive terms such as glaucous, glabrous,sessile, and so on. Surely there is a word for this beading? I hope I have not displayed too much ignorance with this question.
Let the feedback begin.
Appreciatively,
Jaydee Atkins Ager
I live in middle Georgia, in the USA, and I’m in USDA zone 8b.
Jaydee,
Lotus is one of the plants which beads water on its leaves, lupines do that also, the saying in Hindu culture is to be like Lotus which grows in dirty water and is not touched by it.
Vijay Chandhok
This is known as Guttation, a process in which some plants exudes extra moisture that the root system accumulates at night when the stomata are normally closed. Moisture will be forced through the leaf tip or edges of the leaf and thus forming droplets. Root pressure provides the impetus for this flow, rather than transpirational pull. Other plants that do this include various grasses, strawberry leaves and ladys mantle – Alchemilla species.
Bob, thanks for your input. I’m familiar with the “exuding” you reference. I have some houseplants that do that and it can be problematic depending on where they sit. You wouldn’t want to sit one of those on a fine wooden antique sideboard, for instance. But I think what I am referring to is different. The foliage of these plants always sheds water and water “beads” on them. On most plants, water will wet the foliage. I am just guessing that it must have something to do with the cellular structure, or a waxy type coating on the foliage. Vijay, I appreciate your comments and the Hindu wisdom. You understand exactly what I am talking about. But what do you call this? Anybody out there? I got out two small reference books I have, Gardener’s Latin and Dictionary of Plant Names.. I probably just didn’t know what to look for, but I didn’t find any help in either one. This question has been in the back of my mind for a long time. I was just recently in the mountains of western NC, , elevation about 5000′, doing some hiking to see spring ephemerals, I noticed the beading on some of the plants in that environment, but don’t remember which ones. I remember thinking, “I gotta’ ask this question on Daffnet, someone will know the answer out of that smart crowd of folks.”
Jaydee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_effect
We have this effect very obvious on all our Canna x generalis leaves.
Kind regards
Henry (Rome)
Jaydee, I learned about the hydrophobic properties of the lotus leaf from program materials we’ve received at the science center from The Biomimicry Institute. They liken the structure of the waxy coating (epicuticular wax) on its leaf surfaces to a bed of nails with all the points of nails being so close together that water drops cannot easily get in between, so tend to bead up and roll off. More info at the links below. I’m not finding another term for this other than hydrophobic or superhydrophobicity, but it is also called the “Lotus effect.” This has led to the invention of many commercial products, including water repellent outdoor clothing, coatings for glass, and paints that repel water (and dirt due to the “gravity shower” effect mentioned in the first article).
http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/case-studies/how-nature-cleans.html
http://www.asknature.org/strategy/714e970954253ace485abf1cee376ad8
http://www.beilstein-journals.org/bjnano/single/articleFullText.htm?publicId=2190-4286-2-19
Thanks SO much, Becky! Exactly the kind of info/feedback I was hoping for. I’m going to try to remember to keep a list of every plant that I observe that exhibits hydrophobic properties. How’s that for an obscure, off the wall, interest? I guess it would make sense that many aquatic plants, that have leaves that “float” on the water surface, would exhibit the beading effect.