Cuticle: Difference between revisions

Some plants, particularly those adapted to life in damp or aquatic environments, have an extreme resistance to wetting. A well-known example is the [[Nelumbo nucifera|sacred lotus]].<ref>Quere, D.; Surface chemistry. Fakir droplets, Nature Materials 2002, 1, 14.</ref> This adaptation is not purely the physical and chemical effect of a waxy coating but depends largely on the microscopic shape of the surface. When a hydrophobic surface is sculpted into microscopic, regular, elevated areas, sometimes in [[fractal]] patterns, too high and too closely spaced for the surface tension of the liquid to permit any flow into the space between the plateaus, then the area of contact between liquid and solid surfaces may be reduced to a small fraction of what a continuous surface might permit.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=T.|last1=Onda|first2=S.|last2=Shibuichi|first3=N.|last3=Satoh|first4=K.|last4=Tsujii|title=Super-Water-Repellent Fractal Surfaces|journal=Langmuir|date=1996|volume=12|issue=9|pages=2125–27|doi=10.1021/la950418o}}</ref> The effect is to reduce wetting of the surface substantially.<ref>Von Baeyer, H. C., "The lotus effect", ''The Sciences'', 2000, January/February, 12</ref>

 

 

==Mycology==