Roles of trichomes with silica particles on the surface of leaves in Aphananthe aspera

Abstract

There exist many trichomes with silica particles on the surface of leaves in Aphananthe aspera (Muku tree). The size of the trichomes is on the order of some tens to hundreds of micrometers. Investigating the electric-field local densities of the states and distributions of electromagnetic wave propagation, we theoretically revealed that while trichomes play a role as waveguides for the far-infrared, silica particles help incident far-infrared light efficiently propagate inside the trichomes and leaves. These properties would be useful for efficiently warming plants, since absorbed far-infrared light is converted to heat.