To minimize water loss, the aerial parts of vascular land plants are covered with a hydrophobic layer called a cuticle. The cuticle typically consists of two major components: cutin and waxes. In contrast to vascular plants, research reports indicate that some primitive nonvascular plants, such as mosses, lack a cuticle. This study attempts to reconcile contradictory literature reports about the presence of a waxy cuticle on the leaves of the moss Physcomitrella patens.Histochemical staining was utilized to investigate the presence of a cuticle on Physcomitrella leaves. Experiments employing dyes that stain hydrophobic substances were generally consistent with the presence of a cuticle. Hydrophilic dyes were also used to infer the presence of a cuticle through an absence of staining. Histochemical results were supported by observations made using freeze fracture electron microscopy. Leaves consistently fractured through an extracellular layer having a rippled texture, which resembling cuticles known to occur in vascular plants. Attempts to isolate a cuticle from Physcomitrella leaves by partial digestion with chromic acid or treatment with polysaccharide-degrading enzymes were also successful.
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