Felted#Botany

The dermis is described in Gray's Anatomy as "felted connective tissue, with a varying amount of elastic fibers and numerous blood vessels, lymphatics, and nerves."{{Page needed|date=December 2022|reason=Quotation must have a detailed citation directly next to it.}} When describing the external coat of an artery (the tunica adventitia), Gray said that it "...consists mainly of fine and closely felted bundles of white connective tissue..."{{Cite book | last = Gray | first = Henry | author-link = Henry Gray | date = 1918 | title = Anatomy of the Human Body | url = https://archive.org/details/anatomyofhumanbo1918gray | edition = 20th | others = Revised by Warren H. Lewis | publisher = Lea & Febiger | location = Philadelphia | language = en | access-date = 27 December 2022 | via = Internet Archive }}{{Page needed|date=December 2022|reason=Quotation must have a detailed citation directly next to it.}} In such classes of connective tissue the felted structure helps with resistance to tearing by distributing localised stresses, and it imparts shock absorption and elasticity in two or three dimensions at once regardless of the shape of the tissue.{{Cite book | last = Vogel | first = Steven | author-link = Steven Vogel | date = 2000 | chapter = Chapter 5: The Stiff and the Soft | title = Cats' Paws And Catapults: Mechanical Worlds Of Nature And People | publisher = Penguin | isbn = 978-0140277333 | language = en }} In other words, certain types of felting can yield{{Vague|date=December 2022}} controllable isotropy or anisotropy in the behaviour of a structure.{{Cite book | last = Gordon | first = J. E. | author-link = J. E. Gordon | date = 2003 | title = Structures, Or Why Things Don't Fall Down | publisher = Da Capo | isbn = 978-0306812835 | language = en }}

{{See also|Nest}}

File:Down Awn and guard hairs of cat 2012 11 13 9203r.JPG

Although truly felted hair on healthy mammals is unusual, many animals, especially in seasonally cold or wet climates or environments, have a so-called undercoat of down hair plus awn hair that usually lies hidden beneath the outer coat of guard hairs{{Cite book | last = Robinson | first = Roy | date = 1977 | title = Genetics for Cat Breeders | publisher = Pergamon | isbn = 0-08-021209-3 | language = en }} and may form a mat of lightly felted wool. Such down hairs as a rule are crimped into a finely woolly texture and contain waxy, water-repellent lanolin. In a mass they serve to retain insulating air and exclude water. In many species that live in seasonally frigid zones the winter down hair is shed in clumps during springtime. Herders can collect the wool for commercial purposes without the need for shearing.{{Cite book | last = Feldhamer | first = George A. | title = Mammalogy: Adaptation, Diversity, Ecology | date = 7 September 2007 | publisher = The Johns Hopkins University | isbn = 978-0801886959 | language = en }}

The ground-dwelling mice species of the genus Mus in parts of Africa build spherical nests of assorted fibres in burrows or under large flat objects.{{cn|date=December 2022}} Rabbits, in particular Sylvilagus species, use their own fur as a major component of their nesting material.{{Cite book | last = Long | first = Charles A. | date = 2008 | title = The Wild Mammals of Wisconsin (Faunistica) | publisher = Pensoft Publishers | isbn = 978-9546423139 | language = en }} The least weasel (Mustela nivalis), a predatory mammal, collects fur from its prey or occupies prey nests already lined; the fur forms a felted nest lining.{{Cite book | last = Jackson | first = Hartley H. T. | date = 1961 | title = Mammals of Wisconsin | publisher = University of Wisconsin | isbn = 978-0299021504 | language = en }}

File:Common eider nest.JPG (Somateria mollissima) nest, with the eggs deep in the loosely piled down]]

Weaver birds of the family Ploceidae weave nests that are lined with downy materials that become felted, both with each other and with the surrounding nest material. Sparrows build twiggy nests and line them with downy material. Other birds{{which?|date=December 2022}} do little weaving in building their nests but instead construct their nests mainly of fibrous and downy materials such as fine wool, moss, lichen, spiders' nests, tufts of cotton, arachnoid fluff, or bark scales, that are supported by twigs or the walls of burrows. Naturalist James Rennie remarked, "A circumstance also never neglected, is to bind the nest firmly into the forks of the bush where it is placed, by twining bands of moss, felted with wool, round all the contiguous branches, both below and at the sides."{{Citation needed|date=December 2022|reason=Quotation must have a citation directly next to it.}} {{Clarify span|date=December 2022|text=During the nesting season such birds commonly become such avid seekers of suitable materials that down feathers or tufts of wool may be used as bait for trapping them.|reason=Confusing sentence}} Goldfinches (Carduelis species) make felted nests. Hummingbirds do the same with spider webs and moss. Small warbler-like birds of the genera Prinia and Cisticola make their nests either heavily lined with, or entirely of, felted material.{{Cite book | last = Rennie | first = James | author-link = James Rennie (naturalist) | date = 1845 | chapter = Chapter VIII | title = Natural History of Birds: Their Aarchitecture Habits and Faculties | location = New York | publisher = Harper | url = https://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryof00renn | language = en | via = Internet Archive }}{{Cite book | last1 = Hockey | first1 = Phil | author-link1 = Phil Hockey | last2 = Ryan | first2 = Peter | last3 = Dean | first3 = Richard | date = 2005 | title = Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa | publisher = John Voelcker Bird Book Fund | isbn = 9780620340533 | language = en }} Ground nesting birds often use felted material rather than woven. For example, the common eider (Somateria mollissima), famous for the valuable down harvested from its abandoned nests, lays its eggs in very lightly felted bowls of its own down for insulation.{{Cn|date=December 2022}}

File:Icerya purchasi 1.JPG) female rests on her fibrous waxy protection for the eggs.]]

File:Cochenille z02.jpg females, the white waxy fibre does not cover the insect, but rather the eggs.]]

The integument of some insects can be coated with a felted material. It is not usually living tissue but consists of waxy fibres that serve as protection from either excessive desiccation or moisture. It is common in some families of the Hemiptera (true bugs). In some species it occurs only as an outer coat of the immature insect, but in others, such as many of the Coccoidea, including the cottony cushion scale Icerya purchasi and the cochineal of genus Dactylopius, it is secreted throughout the life of the insect and serves largely to protect the eggs rather than the insect itself.{{Cite book | last1 = Picker | first1 = Mike | last2 = Griffiths | first2 = Charles | last3= Weaving | first3 = Alan | date = 2003 | title = Field Guide to Insects of South Africa | publisher = New Holland Books | isbn = 978-1868727131 | language = en }} In other species, such as many of the woolly aphids of subfamily Eriosomatinae, the most fluff is borne on the adult insect.{{Cite book | last = Costa | first = James T. | date = 2006 | chapter = Chapter 9 | title = The Other Insect Societies | publisher = Belknap Press | isbn = 978-0674021631 | language = en }}

Burying beetles of genus Nicrophorus are known for stripping the fur or feathers from the carcasses that they prepare for their young, then using the material to line and reinforce the crypt that they dig.{{Cite book | last1 = Burton | first1 = Maurice | author-link1 = Maurice Burton | last2 = Burton | first2 = Robert | date = 2002 | title = International Wildlife Encyclopedia | publisher = Marshall Cavendish | isbn = 978-0761472698 | language = en }} It is unclear if this habit is incidental or how important it is to the species. French naturalist and entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre demonstrated that the species he investigated did not depend on feathered or hairy food items and were capable of using reptiles, amphibians and fish.{{Cite book | last = Fabre | first = Jean-Henri | author-link = Jean-Henri Fabre | others = Translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos | title = The glow-worm and other beetles | url = https://archive.org/details/glowwormotherbee00fabr/ | publisher = Dodd, Mead and Company | location = New York | date = 1919 | language = en | via = Internet Archive }}

Carder bees of family Megachilidae build their nests using fibre collected from arachnoid plants, and possibly fibre from other sources such as animal wool.{{Cite book | last = Fabre | first = Jean-Henri | author-link = Jean-Henri Fabre | others = Translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos | date = 1915 | title = The Bramble-bees and others | url = https://archive.org/details/bramblebeesother00fabr/ | publisher = Dodd, Mead and Company | location = New York | language = en | via = Internet Archive }}

File:Ctenizidae Cork-lid Trapdoor spider dwelling IMG 4025s.JPG

Spider egg cases are partly or largely felted silk. The lids of various species of trapdoor spider burrows vary in their construction, but they are largely of earth and similar material reinforced with partly felted silk.{{Cn|date=December 2022}}

File:Jardin des plantes Paris Cephalocereus senilis.JPG (old man cactus) showing felted radial spines]]

In botany, felted is defined as "matted with intertwined hairs".{{Cite book | last = Jackson | first = Benjamin Daydon | author-link = Benjamin Daydon Jackson | date = 1928 | title = A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Derivation and Accent | url = https://archive.org/details/glossaryofbotani1928jack | publisher = Gerald Duckworth & Co. | location = London | edition = 4th | language = en | access-date = 27 December 2022 | via = Biodiversity Heritage Library }} A felted covering is protective against grazing or browsing, wind, windblown sand, ultraviolet radiation, drought, and desiccation.{{Cn|date=December 2022}} An example is Cephalocereus senilis (old man cactus), which has radial spines that grow into a tangled coating of white hair, concealing the green tissue and the spines. The felt forms a protection against intense radiation, wind, frost, and herbivores.{{Cite journal | last = Mauseth | first = James D. | author-link = James D. Mauseth | date = 2006 | title = Structure–Function Relationships in Highly Modified Shoots of Cactaceae | url = https://academic.oup.com/aob/article/98/5/901/197087 | journal = Annals of Botany | volume = 98 | issue = 5 | pages = 901–926 | doi = 10.1093/aob/mcl133 | pmid = 16820405 | pmc = 2803597 | doi-access = free | language = en }} The woolly masses of fibres on such cacti have been used as stuffing for pillows.{{Cite book | last1 = Powell | first1 = A. Michael | last2 = Weedin | first2 = James F. | date = 2004 | title = Cacti of the Trans-Pecos and Adjacent Areas | publisher = Texas Tech University Press | isbn = 978-0896725317 | language = en }}

File:Amanita muscaria G2.jpg

Most fungal tissue is filamentous, predisposing it to grow into tangles that lend themselves to felting. {{Clarify span|text=Whereas vascular plants seldom have cells that grow into forms that can form massive tangles, fungi hardly can form tissues at all except by tangling and felting their hyphal filaments.|reason=This sentence is convoluted and hard to follow; simplify.|date=December 2022}} Most mushroom tissue, including cords and membranes, is formed of anastomosed and felted hyphae. The spots on the caps of Amanita muscaria consist of felted patches of remnant tissue from the volva.{{Cite book | last1 = Moore | first1 = David | last2 = Robson | first2 = Geoffrey D. | last3 = Trinci | first3 = Anthony P. J. | date = 2011 | title = 21st Century Guidebook to Fungi | publisher = Cambridge University Press | isbn = 978-0521186957 | language = en }}

{{Reflist}}

Category:Insect morphology

Category:Plant morphology