I am learning about the plant kingdom in biology and I am a bit confused about something I have just come across. I read that pine needles have thick cuticles and sunken stomata to retain moisture. I have also read that Zebrina is a tropical plant and I know that the water lily is an aquatic plant.
At the end of our chapter it asks which of these 3 (pine, zebrina, water lily) has the thickest cuticle, middle, and thinnest. Can anyone help me out here? I don't understand what the answer would be and searching the web is not helping.
Pine/zebrina/water lily cuticle?
Pine has the thickest, zebrina in the middle and water lily the thinnest.
The cuticle helps the plant retain water. A thicker cuticle is better at retaining water than a thin one. Pine trees don't live in a very moist environment when compared to zebrina and water lilys so they have a thicker cuticle.
Zebrina are in a moister climate than pine but they are not constantly in water like water lilys. They can afford to have a thicker cuticle. Water lilys don't have to worry much at all about retaining water because they live in water. A thick cuticle for a water lily would be a waist of resources and time making it.
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