Trichome
Trichomes are structures on a plant's leaves. They look like tiny hairs sticking out from the surface of the leaf.
Trichomes are made of living cells, which can look very different. Some trichomes have one long cell. Other trichomes are a long chain of cells. They may have branches which make them look like a star.
Trichomes help to shade the leaf from the sun. They block too much wind from moving across the leaf surface. This stops too much water from leaving the leaf. Animals might not eat leaves with trichomes because they do not like the taste.
Glandular trichomes have chemicals in them. They break when the leaf is touched, and then the chemicals come out.
Trichome Media
Flower bud of a Capsicum pubescens plant, with many trichomes
Fossil stellate hair (trichome) probably of an oak, in Baltic amber; image is about 1 mm wide.
- Trichomes Close Cannabis.jpg
Glandular trichomes on Cannabis, rich in cannabinoids
- Solanum scabrum trichomes on leaf lamina.tif
Trichomes on the surface of a Solanum scabrum leaf
- Solanum quitoense petiole trichomes.tif
Trichomes on the petiole of a Solanum quitoense leaf
- Snapdragon buds with glandular hairs -- Antirrhinum majus.jpg
Antirrhinum majus buds with glandular hairs
- Müürlooga (Arabidopsis thaliana) lehekarv (trihhoom) 311 0804.JPG
Scanning electron micrograph of a trichome on a leaf of Arabidopsis thaliana; the structure is a single cell.
- Brachypodium distachyon leaf (x250).jpg
Scanning electron micrograph of leaf hairs on Brachypodium distachyon (250x)