indumentum
{{Short description|Covering of hairs or bristles on plant or insect}}
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In biology, an indumentum (Latin, literally: "garment") is a covering of trichomes (fine "hairs") on a plant{{Cite book | last1 = Davis | first1 = Peter Hadland | author-link1 = Peter Hadland Davis | last2 = Heywood | first2 = Vernon Hilton | author-link2 = Vernon Hilton Heywood | date = 1963 | title = Principles of Angiosperm Taxonomy | publisher = Van Nostrand | location = Princeton, New Jersey | page = 154 | OCLC = 552236}} or of bristles (rarely scales) of an insect.
Image:EchiumVulgare-stengel-hr.jpg]]
File:Nepenthes chaniana 5.jpg hairs on a developing pitcher of Nepenthes chaniana]]
File:Ledum groenlandicum 1-eheep (5097488087).jpg (Rhododendron groenlandicum)]]
Plants
{{more|Trichome}}
The indumentum on plants can have a wide variety of functions, including as anchorage in climbing plants (e.g., Galium aparine), in transpiration control, in water absorption (Tillandsia), the reflection of solar radiation, increasing water-repellency (e.g., in the aquatic fern Salvinia), in protection against insect predation, and in the trapping of insects (Drosera, Nepenthes, Stylosanthes). Plant indumentum types include
- hirsute
- lanate
- pilose
- pubescent
- scabrous
- scurfy
- stellate
- tomentose
- villous
Insects
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- New South Wales Flora Online (PlantNET) – [http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&glossary=yes&term=trichome&ill=Fig.+14+ Indumentum types]
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