The Effect of Wind on Grasses

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Abstract
Festuca arundinacea was grown in (a) calm, well watered conditions (b) calm, droughty conditions, and (c) windy, well watered conditions. Wind and drought both resulted in more and smaller stomata per area of leaf, more epidermal appendages, and more marginal sclerenchyma. When leaves were loaded with weights, wind-grown material had a higher Young's modulus and returned more nearly to their original position when the weights were removed. The relationship between water potential, ψ, and per cent relative water content (RWC (%)),was determined using a pressure chamber technique: the solute potential was much more negative in the drought and wind treatments, and in the drought treatment the pressure potential reached zero at a higher RWC (%) than in the other treatments. Drought-grown plants had an enhanced ability to conserve water, whereas wind-grown plants had lost much of their ability to restrict water loss.