Some plants in the Bromeliaceae ess

Some plants in the Bromeliaceae essentially lack stems and absorptive roots. They take up water fromreservoirs known as “tanks” that are formed by overlaps of bases of different leaves (Fig. P–Q). AllBromeliads have profuse trichome coatings on both sides of their leaves. The coatings consist of tinysliver white cells that are able to take up moisture and nutrients and transfer these into the plant.Morphology and anatomy of leaf of a bromeliad is shown. The leaf was cut at the base of the tankregion, sealed, and immersed in aqueous solution of a fluorescent dye, for 2 h. Cross-sections weremade from the blade (Fig. R) and tank (Fig. S) before and after staining, respectively. Red lineindicates pathway for water between vein and trichome (tri).