Nematanthus (Goldfish Plant) Up Close and Personal

 Meet our little Nematanthus leaf. It's a pretty leaf with a smooth, glossy surface and nice thick, waxy feel, For the most part there isn't much that jumps out to make this leaf stand out in your mind as something really interesting.

But, when looking at the top surface you'll notice that it has some pock marks and you can still see the shine.

The bottom surface is where it gets a little more interesting though. The 'holes' appear to be much deeper. Normally a leaf has stomata (openings for the exchange of gases and water vapor) mostly in the lower surface. These openings should be surrounded by two guard cells that are bean shaped. I'm not sure I see this in the photo, but there are undoubtedly openings.

 When cut in section the leaf shows the wonderful layers of it's outer skin (epidermis) and the little hair on the surface called a trichome. Please note that this is one of the gesneriads that have a seemingly smooth surface and lack of the usual gesneriad fuzziness. I was so excited to find that the Nematanthus have them too!!!

The 'hair' or trichomes are useful for a number of things to benefit the plant and on the above linked page supplied by our friends at Wikipedia, some of them are listed including: "It is likely that in many cases, hairs interfere with the feeding of at least some small herbivores and, depending upon stiffness and irritability to the "palate", large herbivores as well. Hairs on plants growing in areas subject to frost keep the frost away from the living surface cells. In windy locations, hairs break-up the flow of air across the plant surface, reducing evaporation. Dense coatings of hairs reflect solar radiation, protecting the more delicate tissues underneath in hot, dry, open habitats. And in locations where much of the available moisture comes from cloud drip, hairs appear to enhance this process."

This is the leaf edge with the top surface to the right. The pigment is also primarily on the top surface as it was in the Episcia leaf a couple of posts ago. I guess that was a surprise to me.

If you look closely at the very tip and to the right, it has another of it's rather sparse 'hair' or trichomes.
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