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Leaf water content and palisade cell size
Author(s) -
Canny M. J.,
Huang C. X.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2005.01633.x
Subject(s) - relative humidity , water content , transpiration , palisade cell , dehydration , chemistry , botany , humidity , saturation (graph theory) , scanning electron microscope , horticulture , biology , materials science , photosynthesis , composite material , engineering , biochemistry , physics , geotechnical engineering , mathematics , combinatorics , thermodynamics
Summary• The palisade cell sizes in leaves of Eucalyptus pauciflora were estimated in paradermal sections of cryo‐fixed leaves imaged in the cryo‐scanning electron microscope, as a quantity called the cell area fraction (CAF). • Cell sizes were measured in detached leaves as a function of leaf water content, in intact leaves in the field during a day"s transpiration as a function of balance pressure of adjacent leaves, and on leaf disks equilibrated with air of relative humidities from 100 to 58%. • Values of CAF ranged from 0.82 at saturation to approx. 0.3 in leaves dried to a relative water content (RWC) of 0.5, and in the field to approx. 0.58 at 15 bar (1.5 MPa) balance pressure. At a CAF of 0.58, the moisture content of the cell walls is in equilibrium with air at 90% relative humidity, which is the estimated relative humidity in the intercellular spaces. • It is shown that at this moisture content, the cell walls could be exerting a pressure of approx. 50 bar on the cell contents.