How does cuticle prevent water loss

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Chapter Plant Reproduction. Chapter Plant Responses to the Environment. Full Table of Contents. This is a sample clip. Sign in or start your free trial. JoVE Core Biology. Previous Video Next Video. Next Video Embed Share. To support the leaf and transport water, mineral ions and sucrose sugar. Allow carbon dioxide to diffuse into the leaf and oxygen to diffuse out.

Epidermis is thin and transparent. To allow more light to reach the palisade cells. Thin cuticle made of wax. To protect the leaf from infection and prevent water loss without blocking out light. Palisade cell layer at top of leaf. To absorb more light and increase the rate of photosynthesis.

Spongy layer. Air spaces allow gases to diffuse through the leaf. Palisade cells contain many chloroplasts. To absorb all the available light. Leaves are the primary photosynthetic organ of a plant, so the cuticle must not seal them permanently. If it did, it would disallow the gas exchange necessary for photosynthesis.

The cuticle also works with the stomata to help complete photosynthesis. After the stomata open and carbon dioxide enters the leaf, the cuticle protects the mesophyll layer, which contains the photosynthetic cells that receive and process the carbon dioxide to manufacture glucose.

Desert plants have adaptations to survive intense heat. The epidermis is usually one cell layer thick. However, in plants that grow in very hot or very cold conditions, the epidermis may be several layers thick to protect against excessive water loss from transpiration.

A waxy layer known as the cuticle covers the leaves of all plant species. The cuticle reduces the rate of water loss from the leaf surface. Other leaves may have small hairs trichomes on the leaf surface. Trichomes help to avert herbivory by restricting insect movements or by storing toxic or bad-tasting compounds. They can also reduce the rate of transpiration by blocking air flow across the leaf surface.

The palisade parenchyma also called the palisade mesophyll aids in photosynthesis and has column-shaped, tightly-packed cells. It may be present in one, two, or three layers. Below the palisade parenchyma are loosely-arranged cells of an irregular shape.

These are the cells of the spongy parenchyma or spongy mesophyll.