Category:
Journal Reprints
Sub-Category:
Biology / Medicine
Keywords:
thorns, moisture-absorbing function, photosynthesis, cooling the plant by evaporation, attracted droplets settle on the surface of the thorn and are absorbed by it, attracted droplets settle on the surface of the thorn and are absorbed by it
Filename:
Semikov_EngineerJ[trans]_n1(2005)1-4.pdf
Publication:
Engineer Journal
Abstract:
The question in the title is usually answered: “Why why? Of course, to use drugs. " Indeed, what else, except for protection from herbivores, can thorns be useful to a cactus? It turns out to be for much, and perhaps even more important than defense (especially when you consider that most wild animals do not interfere with needles to feast on cacti). All this much is the essence of the adaptation of a cactus to desert conditions: heat, scorching sun and lack of moisture (it is not for nothing that thorns are characteristic of other plants of deserts
and regions with an arid climate). Let's list these devices.
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