Plant Ecology and Evolution 150(1): 109-111, doi: 10.5091/plecevo.2017.1284
Self-irrigation in the desert rhubarb Rheum palaestinum – a response to Khammash
Simcha Lev-Yadun‡, Gadi Katzir, Gidi Ne’Eman‡ University of Haifa - Oranim, Tivon, Israel
© Botanic Garden Meise and Royal Botanical Society of Belgium. all rights reserved Citation:
Lev-Yadun S, Katzir G, Ne’Eman G (2017) Self-irrigation in the desert rhubarb Rheum palaestinum – a response to Khammash. Plant Ecology and Evolution 150(1): 109-111. https://doi.org/10.5091/plecevo.2017.1284 |  |
Abstract
Khammash (2016) argued that self-irrigation occurs in the desert plant Rheum palaestinum Feinbrun, by collecting dew with its unique 3D leaf morphology and its extremely large leaves rather than collecting rainfall. We agree that collecting dew indeed has a theoretical potential to improve the plant's water economy. However, we suggest that collecting dew can act as an additional mechanism for collecting water rather than an exclusive one. The unknown relative contribution of these two parallel functioning self-irrigation mechanisms to the water economy of the desert rhubarb should be further studied.
Keywords
DESERT RHUBARB; DEW; RAINFALL; RHEUM PALAESTINUM; SELF-IRRIGATION