EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -To adapt to dehydrating habitats, plants acquired the capacity to synthesize a hydrophobic skin, the cuticle, to cover the aerial surfaces and protect their tissues against desiccation, ultraviolet radiation, and other environmental stresses (Renault et al., 2017; Lee et al., 2020).

Detailed explanation-2: -Cuticle is found on the outer surface of the tissues of many land plants. It provides a barrier between the cells and the outside world preventing dehydration, impeding pathogen penetration, and protecting against UV radiation (Shepherd and Wynne Griffiths, 2006; Yeats and Rose, 2013).

Detailed explanation-3: -The plant cuticle is an extracellular hydrophobic layer that covers the aerial epidermis of all land plants, providing protection against desiccation and external environmental stresses.

Detailed explanation-4: -Land plants (embryophytes) evolved from freshwater multicellular algae, probably related to the extant charophyte groups Charales or Coleochaetales [1–4]. Together, land plants and charophytes form a monophyletic group, the streptophytes, which is sister to the other green algae: the chlorophytes (figure 1).