ON THE ABSORPTION OF WATER BY THE AËRIAL ORGANS OF SOME SUCCULENTS
S. Schönland · Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa · 1910
Ever since the absorption of water by plants has been the subject of experimental inquiry, it has been known that water in liquid form can be absorbed by the leafy shoots of many plants, and that even the loss by transpiration of other parts of the same plant, which are not wetted, can be made good in this manner.'''However, the shape and arrangement of leaves on the axis is frequently such as to prevent or hinder the formation of dew upon them.fRain is usually easily drained off, and can, as a rule, not readily lodge on them.The absorption of liquid water by aerial parts of plants under artificial conditions is, therefore, in the majority of plants, only of academical interest.On the other hand there are cases, e.g., the epiphytic BromeliacecB, in which the plants are either without roots or provided with an imperfect root-system, and in which, therefore, absorption of water by aerial parts becomes a necessity.To a limited extent the utilisation of rain-water and dew may also occur in other plants, e.g., in cases where the leaf-sheaths collect a considerable amount of water.There remain a number of other cases in which water is supposed to be absorbed by means of special hairs or glands or by means of saline excretions of the leaves.Marloth | has shown pretty conclusively that the saline excretions cannot serve to conduct water from rain or dew to the organs which secrete them.In his recently published