Look on the underside

leaf_backlit_maybe_stomates.jpg

Stomates.

I wondered if I could see them when I took this photo.

Then I wondered if I had the name right.

Turns out: probably not; and, yes.

Stomates are stoma/stomata, the wee pores that open/close and allow the plant to intake carbon dioxide (breathing, essentially, to a plant); the downside is that by opening, this facilitates transpiration (loss of water vapor analogous to sweating in critters).

In general, a plant has more stomata on the bottom-sides of leaves than the tops.

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