Extraneous Material on Plant Surfaces – An SEM Study

Leaf surfaces of fifteen plant species contained a large variety of biological and nonbiological structures of various sizes and shapes, which are not a part of the leaf surface but are significant features of all field-grown plants. Some of these structures were fungal hyphae, soil, pollen grains, bacteria, smut teliospores, and many others which could not be identified. This profusion of extraneous material indicates that in-depth studies will have to be made concerning the influence of these materials on agricultural chemicals before the fate of the chemical can be determined with any certainty.