Elevated Leaves Reduce Evaporation

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Biological Strategy

Fan aloe

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Protect From Loss of Liquids

Water is essential to life. Liquids, mostly water, make up 70 to 90% of all living systems, and the loss of even a small percentage can mean the difference between life and death. Living systems must maintain a proper liquid balance, which is especially difficult in dry conditions. To do so, they must control the movement of liquids across their boundaries. Living systems do this using structures or waterproof materials to prevent or slow liquid movement. For example, when humans receive a cut, they must limit blood loss. Scattered throughout the bloodstream are lens-shaped structures that serve to plug the wound.

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Flowering Plants

Clade Angiosperms (“receptacle seed”): Dandelions, oaks, grasses, cacti, apples

With 416 families containing some 300,000 known species, angiosperms are the most diverse group of plants, and they can be found around the globe in a wide variety of habitats. They are characterized by seeds that grow enclosed in ovaries, which are enclosed in flowers. The floral organs then develop into fruits of myriad kinds and dimensions, from simple seed casings on maples to elaborate fleshy growths like papayas. The oldest flower known from fossils, Montsechia vidalii, appeared during the Jurassic Period 130 million years ago. They are the primary food source for herbivorous animals, which in turn makes them the indirect food source for carnivores as well.

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The leafy rosettes of the quiver tree have less evaporative water loss because they are hoisted high in the air away from the desert floor.

Image: Robert Raderschatt / Wikimedia Commons /

Image: Rainer Neubauer / Wikimedia Commons /

Image: Thomas Schoch / Wikimedia Commons /

Image: Jcwf / Wikimedia Commons /

kokerbomen namibie (Kokerbaeume in Namibia)

Image: Carsten Schwarzer/Jens Fendler / Wikimedia Commons /

Image: Andrew massyn / Wikimedia Commons /

Lesser Doublecollared Sun Bird in Quiver Tree, Worcester Botanical Gardens, Cape.

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Image: Original uploader was Izutphen at nl.wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons /

foto: Ingmar Zutphen

Image: Jcwf at af.wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons /

'''Afrikaans:''' Detail van 'n kokerboom (''Aloe dichotoma'')<br> '''English:''' Detail of ''Aloe dichotoma''

Image: Jim Kingdon (Kingdon) / Wikimedia Commons /

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“The quiver tree that grows in the Namib is a kind of aloe. Like the rest of its family, it has thick succulent leaves growing in a rosette, but these are hoisted twenty feet in the air, each at the end of a stumpy branch. That in itself is a way of escaping the worst of the devastating heat and reducing the amount of moisture inevitably lost by evaporation from the surface of their leaves. The branches themselves are thickly covered in a fine white powder. That too helps in keeping cool for it reflects the sun’s heat instead of absorbing it…The branches and trunk are filled with a soft fibre that can hold a great quantity of water.” (Attenborough 1995:269)

David Attenborough looks at the fan aloe ("quiver tree"). From the BBC.

Last Updated October 16, 2016

References

Book

The Private Life of Plants

BBC Books | 21/08/1995 | David Attenborough

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