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Elasticity, plasticity, water content, and hardness of plant tissues of different ages

TitleElasticity, plasticity, water content, and hardness of plant tissues of different ages
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1949
AuthorsTreitel O
JournalTransactions of the Kansas Academy of Science
Volume52
Pagination219-231
KeywordsWATER CONTENT
Abstract
  1. The water content of a young Equisetum fluviatile rhizome decreases with aging. 2. Hardness of the rhizomes increases with aging. 3. Young rhizomes are little elastic and very plastic, old rhizomes are very elastic and little plastic (see table I). 4. A young rhizome is nearly isotropic. Aging causes it to become anisotropic. 5. A similar submicroscopic structure is in cell walls of rhizomes of Equisetum fluviatile of different age because of the same elasticity-plasticity equation for these tissues. 6. Living tissues and non-living colloids loose water with aging (physics of aging). Living tissues and non-living colloids consume less oxygen in old age than in youth (chemistry of aging). 7. According to the most general law for physiological aging of rhizomes these rhizomes loose water with aging and besides aging is caused by respiration and oxidation of the rhizomes.