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Indumentum

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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 or of bristles (rarely scales) of an insect.

Indumentum of Echium vulgare
Caducous hairs on a developing pitcher of Nepenthes chaniana
Rust-colored indumentum on the underside of a leaf of the bog Labrador tea (Rhododendron groenlandicum)

Plants

Further information: 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

The use of an indumentum on insects can be pollen-related as on bees, sensory like whiskers, or for other uses including adhesion and poison.

See also

References

  1. Davis, Peter Hadland; Heywood, Vernon Hilton (1963). Principles of Angiosperm Taxonomy. Princeton, New Jersey: Van Nostrand. p. 154. OCLC 552236.

External links


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