• Applied Microscopy
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.124-128
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• 2012

Leaf surface structures were investigated in the Chinese juniper Juniperus chinensis by scanning electron microscopy. Adult scale leaves were collected from the tree, air-dried at room temperature, and sputter-coated with gold without further specimen preparation. Approximately fi ve stomata were locally distributed and arranged in clusters on the leaf surface. Stomata were ovoid and ca. 40 ${\mu}m$ long. The epicuticular wax structures of J. chinensis leaves were tubules and platelets. Numerous tubules were evident on the leaf regions where stomata were found. The tubules were cylindrical, straight, and ca. 1 ${\mu}m$ in length. They almost clothed the stomatal guard cells, and occluded the slit-shaped stomatal apertures. Moreover, the wax ridges were flat crystalloids that were connected to the surface by their narrow side. They did not have distinct edges, and their width/height ratio varied. In particular, the wax ridges could be discerned on the leaf regions where stomata were not present nearby. Since the wax ridges did not have distinct edges on their margin, they were identified as platelets. Instances were noted where platelets were oriented either parallel to each other or perpendicular to the cuticle surface. These results can be used in biomimetics to design the hierarchical structures for mimicking the plant innate properties such as hydrophobicity and self-cleaning effects of the leaf surface.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.51 no.spc1
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• pp.297-303
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• 2006

Cuticular waxes on tea (Camellia sinensis L.) loaves consisted mainly of alkanes, fatty acids, primary alcohols, triterpenes, and a group of unknown compounds, dominated by primary alcohols and triterpenes. Tea tree accessions used in this study were M-1, M-2, Sakimidori, and Yabukita. For all accessions, the alkane, fatty acid, and primary alcohol constituents consisted of a homologues series, and the major constituents of primary alcohol class were the C28 and C30 homologues. Triterpenes consisted of friedelin, $\beta-amyrin$, and three unidentified ones and friedelin was the most abundant. Leaf area and the total amounts of cuticular waxes per leaf increased with lower leaf position from the apical bud in Yabukita variety. With different leaf position, total wax amount per unit leaf area on the youngest leaves of P1 (the uppermost leaf position) showed the largest amount $(12.80{\mu}g/cm^2)$, and on mature loaves of P2 to P6 ranged from 7.08 to $7.77{\mu}g/cm^2$, and then on the oldest loaves of P7 (the lowest leaf position) remained at an increased level $(17.53{\mu}g/cm^2)$. During leaf development (lower leaf position), the amount of primary alcohols decreased from P1 to P6 and increased at P7, whereas that of triterpenes increased from P1 to P7. The percentage of each wax class in the total wax amount occurred a decrease in primary alcohol and an increase in triterpene, with leaf age.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.551-561
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• 2019

This study was conducted to find out differences in the removal efficiency of particulate matter (PM) depending on the type of plants and the morphological characteristics of leaves. A total of 12 plants were used, with three plants selected for each type of leaves (big leaf, small leaf, compound leaf, needle leaf). We measured the removed amount of PM10 and PM2.5, the structure of the abaxial leaf surface, and the weight of the wax layer of each plant. Plants with the high removal efficiency of PM included Pachira aquatica Aubl., Ardisia crenata, and Dieffenbachia 'Marianne', and plants with the low removal efficiency included Nandina domestica Thunb, Schefflera arboricola, and Quercus dentata. The abaxial leaf surface having a high removal efficiency of PM had many large wrinkles, and the abaxial leaf surface having a medium removal efficiency was flat and smooth. On the other hand, there were many fine hairs on the abaxial leaf surface with a low removal efficiency. According to the plant leaf type, the PM10 removal efficiency of plants with needle leaves was about three times higher than that of other plants. In particular, the wax layer of conifers weighed 6-24 times higher than those of other plants. The stomata of conifers were evenly distributed on the adaxial and abaxial leaf surfaces; however, the stomata of Sciadopitys verticillata appeared in the form of papillae unlike general stomata. Therefore, the removal efficiency of PM varied depending on the macro-, and micro-morphological characteristics of plant leaves such as the structure of the abaxial leaf surface, and the weight of the wax layer. Based on this research, selecting plants that are effective in reducing PM in consideration of the plant type and leaf characteristics will improve indoor air quality and decrease exposure of PM to human body.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.95-103
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• 2012

The cell surface sculpture of the plant epidermis has received great interest recently. It has also been an active area of research, as the biological microstructures of the surface, such as papillae and waxes, exhibit several unique properties, including self-cleaning character; namely the "Lotus effect" first described in the leaves of the lotus, Nelumbo nucifera. The Lotus effect is the phenomenon in which the super-hydrophobic and water-repellent nature of lotus leaves allow water drops to run off easily on the surface in a rolling and sliding motion thereby facilitating the removal of dirt particles. It is well-known that surface roughness on the micro- and nanoscale is a primary characteristic allowing for the Lotus effect. This effect is common among plants and is of great technological importance, since it can be applied industrially in numerous fields. In the present study, Nelumbo nucifera leaf and stem epidermal surfaces have been examined with a focus on the features of papillae and wax crystalloids. Both young and mature Nelumbo nucifera leaf epidermis demonstrated the Lotus effect on their entire epidermal surface. The central area of the upper epidermis, in particular, formed extremely papillose surfaces, with an additional wax layer, enabling greater water repellency. Despite the presence of wax crystalloids, epidermal surfaces of the lower leaf and stem lacking papillae, were much more easily wetted.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.389-390
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• 2012

In this study, we fabricate a superhydrophobic surface made of hierarchical nanostructures that combine wax crystalline structure with moth-eye structure using vacuum cluster system and measure their hydrophobicity and durability. Since the lotus effect was found, much work has been done on studying self-cleaning surface for decades. The surface of lotus leaf consists of multi-level layers of micro scale papillose epidermal cells and epicuticular wax crystalloids [1]. This hierarchical structure has superhydrophobic property because the sufficiently rough surface allows air pockets to form easily below the liquid, the so-called Cassie state, so that the relatively small area of water/solid interface makes the energetic cost associated with corresponding water/air interfaces smaller than the energy gained [2]. Various nanostructures have been reported for fabricating the self-cleaning surface but in general, they have the problem of low durability. More than two nanostructures on a surface can be integrated together to increase hydrophobicity and durability of the surface as in the lotus leaf [3,5]. As one of the bio-inspired nanostructures, we introduce a hierarchical nanostructure fabricated with a high vacuum cluster system. A hierarchical nanostructure is a combination of moth-eye structure with an average pitch of 300 nm and height of 700 nm, and the wax crystalline structure with an average width and height of 200 nm. The moth-eye structure is fabricated with deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process. $SiO_2$ layer is initially deposited on a glass substrate using PECVD in the cluster system. Then, Au seed layer is deposited for a few second using DC sputtering process to provide stochastic mask for etching the underlying $SiO_2$ layer with ICP-RIE so that moth-eye structure can be fabricated. Additionally, n-hexatriacontane paraffin wax ($C_{36}H_{74}$) is deposited on the moth-eye structure in a thermal evaporator and self-recrystallized at $40^{\circ}C$ for 4h [4]. All of steps are conducted utilizing vacuum cluster system to minimize the contamination. The water contact angles are measured by tensiometer. The morphology of the surface is characterized using SEM and AFM and the reflectance is measured by spectrophotometer.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.323-327
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• 1997

Addition of growth inhibitors such as ancymidol, ABA, chloromequat, and pachlobutrazol into MS medium had no effect to preventing vitrification in cultures of Rehmania glutinosa. Anatomical investigation revealed that vitrified thick leaf tissue in vitro had larger intercellular space with poor development of sponge and pallisade tissue compared to those of in vitro grown glaucous and field grown plants. In vitro grown glaucous leaf had smaller and round type stomata showing distinguishable guard and subsidiary cell than those of reestablished plantlets into soil whereas abnormal stomata and poor development of epicuticular wax on the surface of leaf was observed in verified plantlet.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.110 no.2
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• pp.129-140
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• 2021

The study investigates the correlation between the seasonal changes in the absorption of fine dusts and the fine structure of surface on each type of street tree, such as Quercus myrsinifolia, Quercus glauca, Quercus salicina, Camellia japonica, and Prunus × yedoensis in the southernareas of Korea. The absorption ranges of fine dust were 31.51~110.44 ㎍/cm² in January, 23.20~79.30 ㎍/cm² in November, 22.68~76.90 ㎍/cm² in May, and 9.88~49.91 ㎍/cm² in August. The absorption value was about 54.4% higher in January than in May. With the grooves and hairs on the leaf surface and lots of wax, Q. salicina seems related to the high absorption rate of fine dust for each fine dust particle size. The one with gloss and smooth leaf surface has a low amount of wax. C. japonica Prunus × yedoensisshowed a low absorption rate of fine dust in each season. Whereas the increase in porosity density, length, and leaf area size can be related to the reduced PM and increasedabsorption rate, the leaf surface roughness, total wax amount, and porosity width can be related to the increase in the PM absorption rate. There was also a high correlation between the total wax amount and absorption rate of the leaf surface at the size of PM_0.2 than PM₁₀ and PM_2.5. These results imply that the quantitative and qualitative trais of leaf, such as wax amounts and leaf surface,can increase the absorption of fine dusts, and the small-sized particles seem to be highly adsorbed with the high wax amounts.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.147-150
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• 2012

A recently introduced helium ion microscopy (HIM) was employed to observe uncoated pine leaf specimens. Adult leaves were collected from the seedlings of Pinus densiflora and P. rigida, air-dried at room temperature, and observed by HIM without metal coating. Ovoid or round stomata and distinct Florin rings could be discerned. The epicuticular waxes were present in the epistomatal chambers and Florin rings of stomata on the leaf surface. The epicuticular waxes were mostly straight, cylindrical, and ca. 1 ${\mu}m$ in length. The epistomatal chambers of P. rigida were filled with the epicuticular waxes, whereas those of P. densiflora were not filled with the epicuticular waxes. Based on their micromorphology, the epicuticular wax structures of the pine species were identified as tubules. These results suggest that the HIM could be used for the investigation of the plant stomata and epicuticular waxes of uncoated plant leaves. Due to the smaller ion probe and interaction volume, the HIM has advantages over conventional field emission scanning electron microscopy in terms of image resolution and charge neutralization.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.185-197
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• 1992

Differences in the amount and chemical characteristics of the epicuticular waxes on rice leaves were studied for the active tillering and heading stages of rice varieties differing widely in gross leaf-surface property and genetics. The amount of waxes on surfaces of rice leaf-blades was determined by extraction with chloroform and chemical composition of the waxes was characterized by thin layer chromatography, gas liquid chromatography and infrared spectrophotometry. The amount of waxes varied by variety and significantly with growth stage. The amount at the heading stage was 1.7 to 3.6 mg/g fresh weight of leaves, which was two to three times as much as that at the tillering stage of 0.8 to 1.8 mg/g fresh weight. The waxes consisted of seven chemical classes, namely diols, fatty acids, fatty alcohols, fatty aldehydes, fatty esters, saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons. Diols and unsaturated hydrocarbons were identified as new chemical classes of the rice epicuticular waxes. The polar constituents such as dials, fatty acids and fatty alcohols and the non-polars such as fatty aldehydes, fatty esters, and saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons were identified at the heading stage, but at the tillering stage only the non-polar compounds were identified. In the carbon numbers (C) of the chemical classes, diols were composed entirely of C30 and acids were mainly of C30 and C31. In alcohols, primary alcohols were composed of C13 and C32, and the secondary alcohols were of C14, C16 and / or C30 regardless of the rice varieties. The acid portion of fatty esters, mainly composed of C22 and C23, showed low cabon numbers compared with the aldehydes. The alcohol portion of them showed a wide distribution in carbon numbers from C13 to C26 depending on the rice varieties. Hydrocarbons had odd carbon numbers, consisting mainly of C29 and C31.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.461-468
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• 2021

Background and objective: Particulate matter (PM) has a serious impact on health. Recently, studies are conducted to reduce PM in an environmentally friendly way using plants. This study investigated the physiological responses of plants and their ability to remove PM by continuously spraying different PM sources (loam, fly ash, carbon black) to four native plant species, such as Iris sanguinea, Pteris multifida, Vitis coignetiae, and Viburnum odoratissimum var. awabuki. Methods: The four plant species were randomly placed in four chambers, and 0.1 g of different PM was injected into each chamber twice a week. We measured chlorophyll, carotenoid, chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm), total leaf area, amount of leaf wax, PM10 (sPM10) and PM2.5 (sPM2.5) on the leaf surface, and PM10 (wPM10) and PM2.5 (wPM2.5) on the wax layer. Results: For I. sanguinea and V. coignetiae, the sources of PM did not affect the growth response. P. multifida showed high chlorophyll a, b, total chlorophyll, and carotenoid content in carbon black as well as high Fv/Fm and total leaf area, thereby proving that carbon black helped plant growth. By PM sources, sPM10 showed a significant difference in three plant species, sPM2.5 in two plant species, and wPM10 in one plant species, indicating that sPM10 was most affected by PM sources. Conclusion: Carbon black increased the leaf area by affecting the growth of P. multifida. This plant can be effectively used for PM reduction by increasing the adsorption area. I. sanguinea and V. coignetiae can be used as economical landscaping plants since they can grow regardless of PM sources.