Stomates

These little mouths, which are called stomates (a, Fig. 42) are made of two flattened cells, fitting against each other. ❋ Arabella B. Buckley (1884)

But what was so uncommon about the stomates under our microscope was their age: about 15 million years old. ❋ Turnstyle (2011)

Researchers have evidence that, for many plants, the number of stomates per leaf changes in response to how much carbon is in the air. ❋ Turnstyle (2011)

Photo Credit: John Cunningham/Turnstyle The stomates of a red maple leaf at 400x magnification ❋ Turnstyle (2011)

Only more so, since a single leaf can contain hundreds of thousands of stomates. ❋ Turnstyle (2011)

The parts of a typical leaf include the upper and lower epidermis, the mesophyll, the vascular bundle(s) (veins), and the stomates. ❋ Unknown (2009)

The stomates are holes which occur primarily in the lower epidermis and are for air exchange: they let CO2 in and O2 out. ❋ Unknown (2009)

CAM plants open their stomates for gas exchange at night and store carbon dioxide in the form of an organic acid. ❋ Unknown (2009)

During the day the stomates are closed and the plants are nearly completely sealed against water loss; photosynthesis is conducted using the stored carbon dioxide. ❋ Unknown (2009)

A larger leaf requires transpiration through open stomates for evaporative cooling. ❋ Unknown (2009)

A leaf up to 1/2 inch (10 mm) across can stay below the lethal tissue temperature of about 115°F (46°C) on a calm day with its stomates closed. ❋ Unknown (2009)

When CAM plants become water-stressed, the stomates remain closed both day and night and the fine (water-permeable) roots are sloughed off. ❋ Unknown (2009)

The stems and leaves of most species have waxy cuticles that render them nearly waterproof when the stomates are closed. ❋ Unknown (2009)

The stomates also act as an important cooling mechanism for plants by means of latent heat absorbed and transferred from the plants through evaporation/transpiration processes. ❋ Unknown (2007)

Transpiration from plants takes place via water loss from the stomates, the gas exchange organs found on the leaves of plants. ❋ Unknown (2007)

Mediterranean crops as well as those native to the Black sea and other windswept areas use these mechanisms to turn away from the wind and resist loosing moisture through their stomates and epidermal (outer skin) cells. ❋ Unknown (2007)